Some have questioned the fairness of the School Department’s code of conduct in light of the fact that students on European trips are allowed to drink with meals.

The questions come a month after seven members of the Westbrook boys varsity basketball team were suspended for allegedly attending a party where students were drinking.

School Committee Chairman Colleen Hilton said that there is a public forum scheduled to discuss the school’s code of conduct scheduled for June 1. She said the forum had been previously scheduled in the wake of the basketball suspensions, and she felt it was a good time to take another look at the alcohol policy. Hilton said the policy was put in place three years ago and was tested for the first time this year.

However, School Committee member Tim Crellin, one of those questioning the application of the policy, said he does not want to wait until June to address the issue. He said he plans to bring up the issue at a School Committee meeting scheduled for tonight (April 13) at 7 p.m. in room 114 of Westbrook High School.

The trips in question are not sponsored or endorsed by the school, but they do involve students and staff traveling together over school vacations. Westbrook High School teacher Brad Snow said he has organized at least 12 European trips with no involvement of the School Department. Snow said he goes on the trips every other year, and there is no trip scheduled for this year.

Snow acknowledged some students on the trips have consumed alcohol during meals. He said it’s customary in Europe to serve wine or beer with meals. Since the drinking age is lower than in the United States, most of the students on the trip are of legal European drinking age.

Crellin said the issue was recently brought to his attention by some parents who were upset over what appeared to them to be an inconsistent application of the code of conduct – basketball players and cheerleaders were suspended for being present at a party where underage drinking was taking place, while other students were allowed to drink without punishment.

“Westbrook student athletes and cheerleaders were recently suspended for drinking at a party,” Crellin said. “The School Committee and senior administrators all agreed that the punishment fit the infraction of community standards and common sense.”

Crellin said he did not feel it was appropriate for students and teachers to be drinking alcoholic beverages together, even if it were legal. “It is simply inappropriate, no matter where, for our students to be knocking back wine or beers together,” he said.

Snow said shortly before leaving on a trip, he has a mandatory meeting with the students and their families. One of the things discussed at the meeting is the possible consumption of alcohol.

“In Europe, it’s not illegal for 16 year olds to drink,” Snow said. “Since it’s not illegal and part of local customs, I present it to the parents.”

Parents have to give their permission for their children to have alcohol with meals. If parents do not wish to give their children permission to drink, Snow said he enforces that.

“I certainly have never encouraged the kids to do this,” Snow said. “It’s just been an option.”

Snow also stresses than any alcohol consumption is done under the supervision of the trip chaperones and is restricted to mealtimes. “This is not a license to go bar hopping,” he said. “The idea is to let them take part in a local custom, not to get drunk.”

Assistant Superintendent Michael Kane agreed with Snow. “The kids are not doing party drinking or anything,” Kane said. “The problem when you go to (Europe) is that it’s common practice to serve wine with meals.”

School Superintendent Stan Sawyer said the trips in question are in no way endorsed by the School Department or the School Committee and whatever happens on the trips is out of the schools purview. “This is not sanctioned by Westbrook at all,” he said. “This is not a school activity.”

High School Principal Marc Gousse said the trips, which Snow organizes through a private travel agent, receive no funding from the schools and they are not advertised in the schools in any way.

Sawyer also addressed the misconception that the kids on the trip were part of the high school’s Spanish Club. “There is no correlation between the Spanish Club and the kids that go to Spain,” he said.

Gousse said while some members of the Spanish Club did go on these trips, he was careful to add that it was not a Spanish Club trip per se. “If it were a Spanish Club trip, then it would have to be a board approved activity,” he said.

Crellin said just because it is legal for students to drink in Europe that shouldn’t mean the kids should be drinking on these trips. He said the school’s policy should apply across the board.

“I’m not sure that common sense goes out the window the further they go from home,” he said.

Snow said since he has been running the trips, he has not had a major problem with kids and alcohol. “We keep an eye on them pretty close,” he said. “I’m very pleased with the way that they behave themselves.”

Snow said an additional benefit of the exposure to alcohol in Europe is that it gives the students a lesson in how alcohol can be responsibly handled, something that many teenagers have trouble with. “It shows them the way it should be handled,” Snow said.

In fact, he said he finds after the first couple of meals, the novelty of being allowed to drink wears off, and some kids switch to sodas because they prefer the taste.

Nonetheless, some parents believe allowing some students to drink in Europe, and suspending other students for merely being at a party where drinking occurred is not fair.

Lisa DiPietro, the mother of one of the suspended players, said the fact that there are teachers on the trip makes it a school trip in her eyes. “How can they say that it’s not school sponsored if they are chaperoned by teachers,” she said. “It’s a double standard.”

DiPietro said she still wonders why the school chose to deal with the basketball players so severely. “It still feels like these kids were not treated the same way the other kids have been,” she said.

DiPietro said she thinks the School Committee should take a look at the school’s alcohol policy. “I think that they should,” she said. “I think it’s an unrealistic standard.”

Kane said he did not believe the situation was the same as kids suspended for being at a party. He added that it is not the intention of the code of conduct to stop drinking when it comes in a cultural trip.

“It’s a tough one,” Kane said. “It’s a double-edged sword.”

Gousse agreed that the policy wasn’t directed at foreign trips. It was put in place to control underage drinking.

“There’s a big difference between a supervised cultural event and being knowingly present where there is underage drinking,” Gousse said. “You’ve got to view things for what they are.”

For her part, DiPietro said she thought that the school should revisit the policy and allow parents to discipline their kids for things that happen outside of school. “Maybe they ought to let parents parent and let the school take care of the kids in school,” she said.

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