May 6, 2004

Parents debate adopting rules for student behavior

On Thursday, April 29, the Yellow Springs Board of Education heard from a large number of villagers who expressed their views about whether the school district should adopt an extracurricular code of conduct for students. More than 40 Yellow Springers attended the meeting, and of the approximately 30 people who spoke, about three quarters opposed the proposed idea.

“As a coach and a parent I’m concerned about the schools embarking down this path,” said Dave Wishart, who coaches the high school swim team. “I’m afraid if we take kids out of extracurricular activities we’re setting ourselves up by having more children with fewer supervised activities.”

Some community members, coaches and parents expressed concern about what they perceived as the proposed code’s negative approach to young people.

“Instead of having a meeting about how to punish young people, we need a meeting about how to recognize them” for good behavior, said Don Wallis, who noted that he opposed the code because “I don’t think it’s fair, wise or workable.”

But those who supported the code said that the policy could have a positive effect on Yellow Springs students.

“It’s our responsibility as a community to help our young people to succeed,” said Eve Fleck. “It’s our responsibility to come up with standards to help keep kids on the right track.”

The meeting took place in response to a group of parents who, concerned about what they perceived as increased acts of mischief by local young people, asked the board in March to consider such a code. Board members at that time said that they needed to hear from the community on the issue, and set up last week’s meeting.

The school board will decide whether to adopt an extracurricular code at its next meeting, Thursday, May 13.

Currently, the school district has a code of conduct for student behavior in school and during school-related activities, such as sporting events, which identifies clear consequences to specific misbehaviors, said Superintendent Tony Armocida. According to Armocida, that code was developed “over a number of years” by the Student Review Board and faculty advisors.

If the school district adopted an extracurricular code of conduct, students would receive school-related consequences for behavior problems that take place after school hours and outside of school activities. Such consequences might include students not being allowed to participate in extracurricular activities such as athletic events or theater productions.

But keeping kids from participating in extracurriculars can be counterproductive, said many parents who spoke during the meeting.

“Those students who get into trouble are the ones who need activities the most,” said former school board member Judy Leighty. “The last thing you want to do is to isolate a kid who is having problems.”

Life skills, such as teamwork and cooperation, taught in sports and theater are exactly what troubled youths need to learn, said Lauren Miller. According to Eric Miller, there is significant evidence that extracurricular activities are “the most effective interventions” for young people having problems.

“The community is helping itself by including them,” he said.

But an extracurricular code of conduct does not necessarily mean isolating troubled young people, said Larry Gerthoffer, who said he supports the proposed code. Rather, he said, team members who get into trouble might be required to show up for games but not be allowed to play.

Consequences laid out in an extracurricular policy could include positive approaches to misbehavior, such as counseling, rather than keeping students from participating in activities, said Dave Greco, who supports the code.

If athletes know that certain behaviors will result in sitting out games, they might help each other to avoid trouble, said Dan Dixon, who also supports the extracurricular code.

“We could turn peer pressure on its head,” Dixon said. “If there’s a party with alcohol, players could say to each other, ‘you can’t drink because it will affect others beyond you. ’ ”

Several who opposed the extracurricular code of conduct said that they were uncomfortable with what they perceived as the rigidity of a uniform code.

“As an old dean of students, I can say that consistency is a real trap,” said Wally Sikes, who for many years served in that position at Antioch College. “Situations are never the same. If you’re not being inconsistent you’re not doing a good job.”

YSHS boys basketball coach Brad Newsome said that many in the community don’t seem to be aware that coaches already impose consequences on their team members who get into trouble.

“I would like to see more people trust the judgement of coaches,” said Newsome, who opposes the extracurricular code. “If something happens there are consequences. I don’t ignore it. It’s part of my role.”

YSHS football coach Jerome Crosswhite said that he also opposes the proposed code. “What we have now is a good working system,” he said. “Coaches I know, we will punish kids, sit them out of games. Things are being done.”

Individualized consequences coming from a coach with whom a young person is close works better than a rule book, said several who attended the meeting, including Aida Merhemic, who noted that when she participated in high school sports, she cared a great deal about her coaches’ opinion of her.

“My coaches were my mentors and I felt a sense of responsibility to them,” Merhemic said. “It was much more effective to have a coach talk to me about my behavior.”

As well as trusting coaches to respond appropriately to student behavior, the community needs to trust school administrators, including YSHS Principal John Gudgel and Armocida, said Tom Noftle.

“We have John Gudgel, who I believe is the absolute best at what he does, and Tony Armocida the same,” Noftle said. “I feel anything they come up with would be appropriate.”

Several people said punishing misbehaving students for out-of-school behavior is not necessary, since the juvenile court system already provides legal consequences. Others questioned at what point, arrest or conviction, young people would be considered guilty of misbehavior.

“This code would be much too difficult to create and to administer,” said David Turner.

Several who spoke against the code said that such a policy would mean the schools would take over a responsibility that should belong to parents.

“My gut instinct says we’re asking schools to do what parents are unwilling or unable to do,” said Anita Brown. “I keep coming back to we’re asking someone else to do our job.”

But an extracurricular code may be necessary if parents aren’t assuming their responsibility, said Susie Butler.

“We need this because parents aren’t doing their job,” she said.

Parents need to make more effort to communicate with their children’s coaches, said former soccer coach Lynn Hardman, who supports the code. According to Hardman, when she called meetings to explain expectations to parents of her players, about a third to a half of the parents attended.

“What I felt was missing as a coach was the parent-coach communication,” she said.

Others emphasized that an extracurricular code would not be necessary if parents communicated more effectively to each other about children’s behavior.

“When any community begins to talk law and order it speaks to me that trust in communication has broken down,” said Abby Cobb. Yellow Springs’ small size is its strength because parents know each other’s children, she said. “There isn’t anywhere to hide here. It’s our strength. I don’t want to lose that here. We trust each other,” Cobb said.

Parents and community members should not only communicate with each other but also with young people if they see them misbehaving, Noftle said.

“I have a code of conduct for all kids and if I see them messing up I tell them to their face,” he said. “We shouldn’t be afraid of kids.”

Several people said that they would like to see young people be a part of the discussion about an extracurricular code. Asked how students feel about the proposal, Gudgel said that many are “uncomfortable” with the idea.

Others said that, rather than focusing on negative behavior, students, parents and community members might consider creating a code that outlines desired behavior. Such a code should be “succinct,” Eric Miller said, and might stress such qualities as being honest, respectful and responsible. “Anything beyond that brings problems with fairness and problems of proof,” he said.

Creating a positive behavior standard could be a beneficial activity for young people, Sikes said.

“I think that if our students want to come up with a statement of appropriate and ideal behavior for students, that could be valuable,” he said. “The process of coming up with the statement would be the most important part.”

—Diane Chiddister