District 219 School Board Considers Change To Keep Kids From Bad Behavior

The Niles Township High School District 219 school board appears poised to change its extracurricular code of conduct, despite concerns voiced by board president Robert Silverman.

The proposed code would create a uniform system of consequences for athletes and students who participate in fine arts or other extracurricular activities who engage in prohibited behavior-- from being at a party where alcohol is being consumed by minors to bullying to fighting.

It changes the consequences for a first offense involving alcohol from missing a third of an athletic season – or other programs’ activities – to missing a sixth of a season, and that penalty could be reduced or eliminated if the student agrees to participate in some kind of remediation, such as community service or substance abuse treatment.

Under the existing policy, athletes who are caught at party where minors are drinking are suspended for a third of the season on a first offense. There are no set consequences for other kinds of offenses, such as fighting or bullying.

“So what we did was make one a little tougher and one a lot easier and it’s all consistent,” Silverman said at last Monday night’s school board meeting. “I don’t think fighting and attending a party with alcohol are the same thing and deserve the same punishment.”

Silverman said that District 219’s existing policy, while severe, is an effective deterrent that has helped the district avoid the problems with student drinking that neighboring school districts have experienced.

“I think there will be more parties with alcohol,” he said.

Administrators, parents and board members spent hours discussing the changes to the code of conduct at the Education Policy Advisory Committee, the school board’s policy committee and at the Feb. 28 school board meeting. It was technically pulled off the table at that meeting, so the discussion last Monday was its first reading, and it will have to come before the school board one more time before members can vote on it.

The code affects students at Niles West and Niles North high schools who participate in extracurricular activities, and applies to them for their entire high school careers, in or out of school, including summer break. It is also cumulative, meaning a student who has a first offense as a freshman will be counted as being on his or her second offense if he or she breaks the code again as a senior.

Niles North Principal Ryan McTague said the whole idea of changing the code of conduct was to make it more consistent. He also defended the idea of allowing students to “buy back” some of their suspension time by engaging in some kind of restorative justice.

“It’s not like there are no consequences,” he said. “If a student has to perform 30 hours of community service or attend six sessions of a substance abuse treatment program, that’s a consequence.”

It also has the potential to do more good for the student than simply keeping him or her out of extracurricular activities, he said.

Silverman suggested that administrators revise the proposal by creating a two-tier system that would maintain the existing punishment for drug and alcohol offenses, but other board members said they support the existing proposal.

“I’m fine with the policy,” said board member Jeffrey Greenspan. “If we find out it’s not a deterrent, we can always revisit it.”

Board member Lynda Smith said she doesn’t think the policy is the only reason that District 219 has had relatively few alcohol-related incidents.

“We have a fair number of families from cultures where alcohol and drugs are totally frowned upon, and they wouldn’t do it no matter what,” she said.

Board members Ruth Klint and Eileen Valfers also spoke in favor of the proposed policy.