WESTBROOK – Mike Connolly was happy to finally be outside Monday afternoon following a full day of meetings. As multiple Westbrook High School fall sports teams spilled onto the fields for the first day of practices, he seemed at home, walking among the various camps and checking in on coaches.

“The first thing I have to learn is the facilities,” he said, of getting his bearings. “It’s as simple as who practices where.”

Westbrook begins the new school year next week, and Connolly, hired in June as the new athletic director, is adjusting to a new department and new athletic programs. For the city’s school department, rocked by a string of controversies involving student-athlete conduct in the last school year, it means a fresh start.

Connolly’s predecessor, Marc Sawyer, resigned in April after months of wrangling that followed student suspensions from an underage drinking incident in November 2013.

?Citing boundary issues ? ?between parents and administrators, Sawyer resigned? shortly after a second reported incident of student drinking resulted in arrests and multiple season-ending suspensions of Westbrook athletes.

Bringing up the circumstances of last school year, Connolly said that he’s picked up on a “fresh start” spirit from coaches and other personnel, and has felt nothing but positive energy from the community.

“I think everyone in the community wants to take a step forward and move forward,” he said. “I think it’s a general consensus, including the student-athletes. They want to be able to feel pride in being a Westbrook athlete.”

Connolly said the feeling of a new school year also plays into the positive atmosphere surrounding the teams.

“It’s a great time of rebirth and restarting, and you feel like you’re really getting a clean slate,” he said.

While the athletic director position has shifted, Connolly said, the coaching staff is largely the same, meaning varsity coaches in Westbrook felt the effects of last year and want to move past it.

“We’re certainly viewing it as a fresh year, and a new opportunity,” ?Jeff Guerette, the head coach of the varsity football team ?, said? Wednesday.

However, he admitted that the team hasn’t spoken much about ?the previous school year.

“Right now it’s about being positive, and trying to let the kids have fun??and work hard,” he said. “We think every year is a fresh start, but I ? ?guess this one in particular.”

“I think the feeling is that we can’t do anything about last year, especially the incoming freshmen who weren’t here, so I think everyone’s ready for a productive season,” Connolly said.

For the past two school years, Connolly worked as the athletic director at Portland High School, and said that as a Westbrook resident, he watched as Westbrook’s controversies affected the community. However, he said, “Westbrook was not the only school with drug and alcohol issues last year.”

In response to the controversy, the Westbrook School Committee enacted changes to the department’s student-athlete code of conduct policy, which was seen as a major contributor to the flawed November investigation into the party, according to a report filed by arbitrator John Alfano.

Alfano’s report said a clause in the code of conduct, known as “knowingly present,” is “nearly impossible to enforce,” but also said it suffered from a lack of support from the school department to enforce the policy, which came from pressure from parents and pointed to school board member interference.

The School Committee’s new code-of-conduct policy removes the “knowingly present” language, which, according to Westbrook High School Principal Jon Ross, puts the burden of proof back on the student. He has said that with “knowingly present,” the administrator had to prove the student was at a party with alcohol present, and the updated policy will put more emphasis on students to prove they were not at a party.

Other changes included lessening the suspension time for a first infraction by two weeks, from the original four-week model.

Last year, first infractions resulted in two weeks away from a sports team and two weeks without playing in games. The new rules may also require counseling or community service, depending on the situation.

Alfano declined to comment this week on the response made by Westbrook school officials to his recommendations in the report.

Superintendent of Schools Marc Gousse said Wednesday that he and other school officials saw the events of last year as a way to “reflect and improve,” and that he sees a positive outlook on all levels for this coming year.

“I don’t think anyone wants to let an event or a situation define a community,” he said.

Gousse said that “it’s too early to tell” how the new code will impact the school year.

“I don’t think the new code is necessarily a radical change. It’s just a matter of communicating what that expectation is,” he said.

However, Gousse added that due to the events of last year, the students, and the department, will be in the “limelight.”

“A lot of the kids don’t want to be tagged with a label that isn’t positive, and I think the kids are ready to prove that,” he said.

While members of the Westbrook football team marched by to practice Monday, Connolly said that from an administrative standpoint, code-of-conduct policies, with or without clauses like “knowingly present,” are the most challenging aspects of the job.

He said that the task of proving someone did something falls on administrators, and it’s not easy.

“It’s all gray. You try to hold kids responsible and hold them to a high standard, and you look at what you have and you move forward with each piece of information you get,” he said, referring to the types of investigations expected of athletic directors.

Connolly said he feels that the events of last year stemmed from an initial decision that had to be made too quickly, and was victimized by poor timing. However, he said, decisions have to be made as a team, and include the principal and resource officers.

“Sometimes it’s a no-win situation,” he said. “You hope you have the time to make the right decisions. It’s all you can do.”

Mike Connolly, Westbrook’s new athletic director, watches football practice Monday at the fields off Stroudwater Street. At the first day of fall sports practices, Connolly spoke about the upcoming season, and the opportunity for the community to move past the negativity of last year.