Respect, support, modesty and self-control mark the attitude encouraged throughout a new sportsmanship policy to be presented to the Scarborough School Board.

The sportsmanship policy outlines expectations for student-athletes, coaches and spectators and will be presented to the board at a meeting on Thursday at 7 p.m. in the town council chambers.

The policy provides a set of guidelines for behavior at athletic events that allow for a “healthful, positive and safe experience for everyone involved.” Listed are constructive practices that promote sportsmanship, as well as negative ones that should be avoided.

“There was a whole revamping of co-curricular and extra-curricular policies” by the Maine School Managment Association about a year ago, said Scarborough Superintendent David Doyle. Scarborough routinely adopts the policies formulated by the association.

Previously, Doyle said, the Maine School Management Association policy that covered athletic activities was too broad, which was why new policies were created – to cover more specific aspects of these activies. He said it was not in reaction to any specific event.

“There wasn’t a problem or anything like that,” Doyle said.

He explained that the policy was “being reviewed for quite some time,” which was why it hadn’t been presented to the board until now. He also said that the election of new school board members last November and more pressing matters taking priority were reasons for the delay.

The policy was orginally scheduled for its first hearing at a meeting on June 7, but the meeting was adjourned because, after one school board member left, there was no longer a quorum.

According to Annalee Rosenblatt, school board chairwoman, the policy under consideration is not related to Sports Done Right, a sportsmanship program that Scarborough is in the process of adopting.

“You could have these policies without Sports Done Right, and you can have Sports Done Right without these policies,” she said.

Sports Done Right is based on a set of principles and practices developed by the University of Maine. Though the program is different from the policy, Rosenblatt said they do share some of the same concepts.

While the sportsmanship policy is being read by the school board this week, Rosenblatt said, the implementation of Sports Done Right is still “early in the process.”

“It’s at least a year off,” she said.