With a new principal and administration team now in place, now is the time for school leaders to implement a change in the school’s Chemical Health Policy, one of the most stringent in the MIAA.  Walpole’s broad policy unfairly punishes students who happen to have the misfortune of being in the presence of alcohol or other illegal substances even if they are not using those substances.  Furthermore, Walpole’s policy remains largely ineffective based on statistics and takes responsibility for the well-being of students away from the students and their parents and puts it under the control of school administrators.  The policy also puts Walpole at a disadvantage on the athletic front, and there is no conclusive evidence to indicate that it is benefiting Walpole academically, either.  The Chemical Health policy is long due for serious reform.
School administrators maintain that the purpose of Walpole High’s far-reaching Chemical Health policy is to instill responsibility in students.  The MIAA, which sets the minimum standards upon which schools can base their policies, has a less stringent policy dictating that “a student shall not, regardless of the quantity, use, consume, possess, buy/sell, or give away any beverage containing alcohol; any tobacco product; marijuana; steroids; or any controlled substance.”  But the MIAA Handbook further dictates that their policy “is not intended to render ‘guilt by association’, e.g. many student athletes might be present at a party where only a few violate this standard.”  The MIAA’s disclaimer summarizes Walpole’s policy adequately: it renders guilt by association.  Punishing students for being associated with those who are using substances while underage is unfair and does not instill responsibility in students.  Students should learn the power of saying no when they are under pressure.  At parties, for example, students should be encouraged to say no to offers of alcohol.  A student who says no but sticks around at a party anyway should not be punished for saying no.  Further, some students may be in the presence of alcohol while they are in the process of removing other students in order to drive them home.  Again, students who are doing a responsible duty by driving other students home from a party should not bear consequences just because they happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and are in reality being the responsible ones at a party.
The effectiveness of Walpole’s broad Chemical Health policy is also highly questionable.  School administrators have been concerned about alcohol use by high school students for several years now.  In the 2004 Youth Risk Behavior Survey that some students took at Walpole High, Walpole juniors were found to be 18 percent more likely than the national average to have had one alcoholic drink within the previous 30 days.  Furthermore, juniors were about 20 percent more likely than the national average to have engaged in binge drinking in the previous 30 days.  The results improved only somewhat in the 2009 Youth Risk Behavior Survey that about 35% of the school’s student body participated in.  Assistant Superintendent Jean Kenney noted that while the use of alcohol by teens in Walpole is now lower than in 2005, the school department has had “areas of concern” with the use of alcohol by teens in Walpole.  The survey, which is conducted every two years with a small group of Walpole High students, indicates that Walpole continues to have an apparent drinking problem, even with a strict Chemical Health Policy in place.  In the 2009 survey, 36.9% of survey respondents, or 138 students, admitted to having at least one drink of alcohol on more than one day during the previous 30 days.  40.3% of respondents stated they had consumed at least one drink of alcohol on more than one day of their life, including a whopping 14.7% who admitted to having had alcohol on 40 or more days of their life.  Even though the survey was only taken by a small group of the overall school population, the results are staggering and indicate that the school’s Chemical Health Policy is largely not effective at reducing underage alcohol use.So the policy, as strict as it may be, is not deterring any students from using alcohol or other substances.
From an athletic perspective, Walpole High School also maintains one of the strictest Chemical Health policies in the MIAA, and students from other schools, who are in the presence of alcohol, are emerging from those incidents unscathed while Walpole High students bear the consequences of a stricter policy here.  As a result, Walpole is put at a competitive disadvantage in sports, because Walpole students who commit an infraction of the policy by being in the presence of alcohol are unable to play sports, while Walpole’s opponents on the field who may have made similar actions are still allowed to play.
Furthermore, while Walpole school officials may maintain that the stricter policy reinforces Walpole’s belief that academics are more important than sports, Walpole’s stricter policy is not translating into better academics for Walpole High.  Other schools that have less stringent Chemical Health policies are doing better than Walpole on academics.  For example, Weston, which maintains a policy that is in line with the MIAA’s minimum guidelines, was ranked the best school in the state by Boston Magazine, well ahead of Walpole’s ranking in 49th place.  Dover-Sherborn Regional High School, like Weston, has a minimal Chemical Health Policy and also ranked 2nd in Boston Magazine’s rankings.  Other schools, too, ranked higher than Walpole in Boston’s rankings, and yet have policies that are far less strict than Walpole.  Walpole is clearly not benefiting on either sports or academics by maintaining such a strict policy.
Besides falling short on its goal of deterring underage drinking, the school’s Chemical Health Policy does not effectively teach students responsibility for one’s own actions.  Some of the most effective ways to prevent students from using alcohol, for example, is to show students how their life can change when alcohol or other substances are used.  Students should have to live with the consequences of their actions.  Students learn responsibility and decision making from their parents, peers, and from real life experiences.  A school should be educating students about the consequences of making decisions regarding the use of alcohol and other substances.  But they should not be stepping into students’ private lives and preventing them from facing the true reality of the effects of those substances.  One of the most effective ways for an individual to learn the true impact alcohol and drugs can have is by experiencing the effects firsthand.  For example, Walpole High students have shown in the past that they benefit and learn from discussions about the effects of underage drinking.  Kathi Meyer, the mother of a Norfolk teenager who died after attending a party, had a tremendous impact on students at Walpole High when she came to speak a year ago.  Walpole High should focus on educating students and parents about the impacts of their decisions, and less on seeking ways to punish students who are not necessarily doing anything wrong even when they are at a party.  Walpole High should recognize that students are going to use substances they should not use,  and those students’ actions are unavoidable no matter what policies the school attempts to implement to stop them.  But by expanding efforts to educate students about decision-making, many students will likely know enough not to use illegal substances.
Ultimately, Walpole High’s chemical health policy has been shown to be largely ineffective, and it holds Walpole athletes to higher standards than the MIAA with little tangible benefit.  Walpole students should be educated about their decisions in life, and not lectured by an overly stringent policy that even the MIAA calls essentially “guilt by association.”  Students are not learning anything from Walpole’s policy, and other schools maintain the MIAA’s minimum policies with virtually the same results as Walpole’s stricter policy.  It makes sense for Walpole to reform its policy.