The Red Bank Regional High School board of ed is closing in on a new set of rules governing student conduct following a discipline controversy that erupted last winter.
Proposed revisions to what is now an athletic code of conduct, scheduled for discussion at the board’s Nov. 5 meeting, are not yet known, except that the policy will be expanded to apply not only to athletes but all students involved in extracuriuclar activities, says school spokeswoman Marianne Kligman.
In a prepared statement, the school says the changes “represents the culmination of a process initiated last spring to involve all stakeholders parents, students, staff, administration and community leaders in redefining a fair, consistent and community supported code of conduct that will hold all our students engaged in athletic and co-curricular activities to the same high standard of conduct.”
The changes follow the administrations controversial decision last February to discipline athletes who were deemed to have violated RBRs athletic code of conduct by their involvement in a party that was raided by police over reports of minors consuming alcohol.
Kligman says the board is discussing the the section of the RBR Coaches Handbook that addresses the conduct of athletes. Download rbr_athletic_code_of_conduct.jpg
She says, via email:
The following key points will be included in a new code:
1. It will be written not as an “Athletic Code of Conduct” but an Extra-Curricular Code of Conduct which will apply fairly to all students who participate in extra curricular activities. Whether a student is in a club, on a sports team or in a performing arts group–that student is asked to uphold the same code.
2. the new code will be more thorough in defining expectations for athletes and those who participate in extra-curricular activities.
3. The administration expects to draw up a policy that will be fair to all that are involved in extra-curricular activities.
We suspect some of the points above will be made by the public, as they mirror concerns the public expressed at past meetings. However, the Board is anxious to hear all concerns so that the public and parents will be supportive of this code and, therefore, it will be respected and upheld by our students.
The school brought in an expert on for a presentation to parents earlier this month.
The meeting is scheduled for 8p in the school’s media center.
