School Board Finishes Modifying Substance Abuse Policy

By Larissa Lytwyn

After initially reforming the district’s substance abuse policy last June, the school board this week approved a series of modifications to the policy intended to clarify its terms for students and their families as well as administrators.

Under the original policy, the first offense resulted in a two-day external suspension and a 21-day suspension from extracurricular activities; the second offense, a five-day external suspension and 45-day exclusion from activities, as well as parental notification and required substance abuse assessment.

The third offense elicited an administrative recommendation for expulsion.

The new policy is condensed into a first and second offense; now, the second offense can lead to a recommendation for expulsion.

Under the revised first offense, “upon reasonable belief by school personnel…that a student is under the influence or in possession of drugs and/or alcohol during school, on school grounds or during school activities,” the students’ parents/guardians will immediately be notified and “required to participate in education about substance abuse, the stages of addiction and parent resources.”

Police will be automatically notified if the substance use involves an illegal action, such as possession.

The policy requires offending students to “complete an assessment by a board-chosen agency licensed to evaluate drug/alcohol problems at parent/guardian expense,” demonstrate compliance with the treatment program as recommended after the assessment, agree to a behavioral contract between the student, school administration, and a representative of the assessment group, and sign a release “which shall grant the school the right to formal written and/or oral communication with the treatment agency.”

A first-offense student will also be referred to the faculty-comprised Student Assistance Team (SAT). The SAT will monitor the student’s academic performance and social adjustment and “make recommendations pertaining to support services and academic program adjustments as appropriate.”

The student will also be excluded from all school-related extracurricular activities for 60 calendar days. If the 60-day period is not concluded by the end of the school year, the remaining days will be completed at the start of the following academic term.

Board member David Nanavaty and Secretary Andy Buzzi, both attorneys, spent the last several months tightening the policy’s language to elucidate the terms involving voluntary disclosure and failure to comply with first-offense requirements.

During its January 4 meeting, the board unanimously approved a new tenet under the first offense stating that the failure of the student to comply with assessment portion of the policy “will subject student to a recommendation of the Board of Education for expulsion….for up to one calendar year…”

In addition, during its long months of discussion over how to effectively modify the revised policy, the board tangled with the issue of voluntary disclosure.

Both Mr Nanavaty and fellow board member Tom Gissen expressed concern that a student voluntarily disclosing his or her problem to a staff member might be unfairly penalized under the policy’s first-offense precept.

They reasoned that such a student, clearly seeking out help for a problem, might experience a sense of punishment for speaking out by falling under the policy’s first-offense consequence. 

Mr Nanavaty sought to resolve the issue by modifying the voluntary disclosure clause to state that a student voluntarily telling a staff member of a substance abuse problem can be protected if the disclosure is done so “in advance of a suspicion by, or report to, a staff member.”

The staff member must “make every effort to guide the student to appropriate professional help without regard to whether the student is or is not presently under the influence of drugs, alcohol or other substance.”

Further, Connecticut General Statutes 10-154a, involving professional communications between teachers or nurses and students, stipulates that teachers, in the case of voluntary disclosure, cannot reveal their knowledge of the student’s substance use without the student’s permission.

Upon approving the revisions, Mr Nanavaty’s fellow board members praised him for “a job well-done.”

“[Mr Nanavaty] did an excellent job tightening up this policy,” declared Mr Buzzi. “I truly believe it will help [the board] achieve [its] goals in addressing the problem of substance abuse in our community. I think this policy will help both students and administrators enormously.”