Volleyball player acts as designated driver, gets suspended

Well, the police did clear the girl in question. I would assume there are cell phone records to support her story.

These no-tolerance stories drive me batshit crazy. For starters, what in the hell is it the school's business what kids do when they're not only not in school, they're not even representing the school.

 

You know, I thought North Andover was a separate HS. But it also says in the story, in the same paragraph, actually, Andover High. Just a typo.

 

Yeah, I noticed that, too.

 

I assume this is part of an athletic code that the athletes signed as part of the agreement. I have no problem with it; it's a good incentive to keep kids away from drinking and thus is good community policy.

All the phone records would do is confirm she just got there. They wouldn't confirm her heroic role.

 

Or maybe the friend called her to tell her to come to the party to drink and the police happened to arrive at the same time as the girl, so she said she just came to pick up her drunk friend.

I'm going to have to cast my ballot in I doubt the girl told the true reason of why she went to the party.

 

Theoretically, text messages would.

 

I am pretty sure the policy was spelled out to the kids (and the parents) before the start of the season. As I said, many times I've heard coaches and ADs tell kids if they arrive at a party and see someone drinking, they need to turn around and leave immediately. Of course, if the kid turns around and the police are right there, they're pretty much screwed.

 

Well, if the kid gets arrested and is old enough for his name to be in the paper for it, it's not "Timmy was arrested," it's "Podunk High quarterback Timmy was arrested."
Also, if hanging out and getting wasted is more important to a kid than playing a sport for the high school, maybe the kid shouldn't be playing high school sports.

 

Based on what exactly?

 

Totally agree with you on this.

"No-tolerance" policies don't exist to teach kids a lesson, or to be tough on kids who violate a rule. They exist solely to protect an administrator from ever having to be accountable in making a decision.

 

I suppose there's also the issue of should a state association have rules about how long a kid should be suspended for drinking or using illegal drugs.
In Massachusetts, the MIAA mandates 25 percent of the season or two weeks, whichever is greater, for the first offense. Member schools can have tougher penalties, but not more lenient ones. I think the "in the presence of" rules are individual school things.
Would it be better if it were left up to the individual schools or teams to decide appropriate punishment?

 

These are kids. And kids are going to drink occasionally. But you don't suspend them a quarter of the season for it.