'It's a privilege to play, not a right'

Policy highlights

Extracurriculars: Students engaging in extracurricular activities are prohibited from engaging in conduct that brings discredit upon the school or that brings a disruptive influence on the school.

Arrests/charges/other misconduct: Therefore, any athlete or participant in any other extracurricular activity who is arrested, charged as a juvenile or adult, or who otherwise engages in conduct that brings discredit or a disruptive influence to the school, may be suspended from participating in the activity or competition.

Conviction/guilt/adjudication: Students found guilty of, admitting to, pleading no contest to or being adjudicated of charges may expect to have their suspension extended up to and including a permanent ban from any or all extracurricular activities.

Timing: The Code of Conduct requirements apply in and out of season.

Support seems to be behind proposed policy changes that would encourage Middletown City School District’s 6,700 students to behave themselves off school grounds.

The Middletown Board of Education is considering expanding the student code of conduct to allow the district to suspend students from sports and extracurricular activities for misbehaving outside school.

Middletown High School Principal Dennis Newell and Athletic Director Gary Lebo first proposed the changes to the district’s policy committee in April, in light of the case of Dwayne “Deejay” Hunter Jr., a student-athlete who has been arrested five times in the last year, yet continued to play sports between court appearances.

Board member Marcia Andrew said that case shined a light on gaps in the code of conduct.

“That’s what brought it to the forefront that there is this limit in scope of the current code of conduct,” Andrew said. “We decided that we needed to address that.”

Lebo agreed.

“We looked at some policies of other schools to see what they were doing,” Lebo said. “Then I took some ideas to Sarah Combs (director of student services) and the policy committee. We went back and forth for a while, but we feel we’ve come up with a good policy. It will take care of what we want it to.”

Student ambassadors

School board member John Sauter, who serves on the policy committee, said the changes would be a “bit of a hammer” and a way to show students they are always ambassadors of the school.

“I’m definitely in favor of it,” Sauter said. “I think it’s a good thing because we want to develop our youth to be leaders in the future, too, and be good role models for the younger kids.

“They’re going to be ambassadors of Middletown, and we want them to be the highest caliber of student we can have,” Sauter added. “It’s going to, hopefully, really instill character for the youth that are coming through the Middletown system and teach them to do the right thing all the time.”

‘It’s a privilege to play, not a right’

Middies football coach Jason Krause said character has always been a part of his athletic program.

“We want to build better dads and brothers. Just better people,” the second-year coach said.

Football is a highly visible, high profile sport in Middletown, which is why Krause is giving each of the 100-plus players in the Middie football program this season a “character card.”

“The cards will have a list of goals, which involve social responsibility within the school and the community,” said Krause, who added his players can expect more of this kind of character development. “We will ask the kids to think about these goals within these arenas, not just football, and do the right thing by showing character.”

Hunter, once a nationally ranked defensive back, played for Krause in 2008 despite having been convicted in juvenile court of misdemeanor assault just weeks before the start of the football season.

Krause said because Hunter’s case was a juvenile issue, “we weren’t privy to what happened.” He said most of Hunter’s legal woes came after the football season.

“We expect more out of our young men,” Krause said. “We’re going to hold them to an even higher standard of being a Middie player.

“It’s a privilege to play, not a right.”

Being a model student-athlete

Quarterback Caleb Watkins, who will be a senior this fall, said he already is working toward being a model teammate and citizen.

“Everywhere you go, you represent the Middies,” Watkins said. “If you play a sport, how you act will reflect on your team and your school.

“If you are in public, don’t break the law or do things you know you shouldn’t be doing,” Watkins said. “We’re trying to change things here. We don’t want to just be good athletes. We want to be good student-athletes. We’re Middies and proud of it.”

Sauter said the policy committee did discuss the history of Hunter’s case, but tried to make a policy that would be more “broad-based.”

“Maybe having a policy like this will help a child think twice before they do something,” Sauter said.

“It might just keep someone on the straight and narrow,” he added. “Let’s hope that the peer pressure with something like this can be peer pressure in the positive sense.”

Other district’s policies

Other local school districts have policies for their student-athletes that outline appropriate punishment for violating policies on tobacco or alcohol.

Monroe Local Schools’ code of conduct for athletes spells out discipline for different offenses, including denying participation to any athlete convicted of a felony.

“As a representative of their school, athletes should strive to develop and maintain a high set of standards in the classroom, in their respective sport and in the community,” Monroe’s policy reads.

Edgewood City Schools’ athletes can be punished for any behavior before, during and after school that discredits themselves or the school during the sports season. The district also does random drug testing of athletes.

“Participants must earn that privilege to represent Edgewood City Schools by conducting themselves in such a manner that they are a credit to the school,” Edgewood’s policy reads.