"Albemarle County’s training rule for high school athletes violates the constitutional rights of the athletes and their parents, a nonprofit civil liberties group said Monday.

In a sternly worded letter to School Board Chairwoman Sue Friedman, Rutherford Institute President John W. Whitehead called parts of the rule “an invasion into the privacy of families” and a “misuse” of the school division’s authority.

Under the rule, high school athletes must pledge that they will not use tobacco, alcohol or drugs on and off school grounds, and their parents must agree to tell coaches and principals if their children do.

“The question is, ‘Can you require a parent to be an informant and become a part of the government?’” said Whitehead, a constitutional-law attorney. “I don’t think it’s legally enforceable.”

The rule was made stricter for this school year, in part because of an alcohol-related car accident last May in which 17-year-old Albemarle High lacrosse player Nolan Jenkins died on the Thomas Jefferson Parkway. Police then went to the party Jenkins had allegedly left and ticketed 11 teenagers for underage possession of alcohol.

The latest version of the rule suspends first-time offenders from their sport for the remainder of their season - whether it is the first day of practice or the last game, and they are not allowed to watch practices or other sporting events during their suspension. Before last year, first-time offenders sat out 30 days of a season.

Student-athletes who violate the rule twice are suspended for 365 days, and third-time violators are banned from all sports for the remainder of their high school careers. Violations do not appear on their high school transcripts for potential colleges or employers to see.

Parents and school administrators in the county have been divided over how involved the school division should become in curtailing underage drinking, especially after last May.

School Board member Brian Wheeler said he is open to ideas about improving the rule, especially as it applies to first-time violators.

“I think that’s a death penalty for the student-athletes,” said Wheeler, who is the father of a student-athlete at Western Albemarle High. “I think we need a graduated set of consequences that is serious about expectations but recognizes that children are not always going to make the right choices.”

The rule is not carefully drafted because it conflicts with a Virginia law that allows parents to provide alcohol to the their children in their homes, Whitehead said, adding that it discriminates against student-athletes and their parents by singling them out.

It also does not make an exception for those who may drink alcohol as part of a religious ceremony, such as Holy Communion, he said.

In his letter to Friedman, Whitehead wrote: “If the school district’s goal is to discourage alcohol and drug use by students, there is no reason to limit coverage solely to students who are involved in athletics, thus discriminating against parents whose children are involved in such activities.”

Steele Howen, executive director of administrative services for county schools, said she has been meeting with high school principals and other school representatives, and they have devised some changes that will be proposed to Superintendent Pamela Moran, who ultimately has the power to approve them.

The School Board will not be voting on it.

“It’s not a policy,” Howen said. “It’s a practice that has to be approved by the superintendent. What we’re aiming for is to have it done in time for the new athletic handbooks for next year.”

Howen said the changes could be announced either at the April 12 or the April 26 School Board meeting." (Matt Deegan, The Daily Progress, March 27, 2007)