This month at Cape Elizabeth High School, principal Jeff Shedd announced what he called a new application of existing rules regarding use of alcohol or illegal substances by students who participate in athletics or extra-curricular activities.

Students hosting parties where alcohol or substance abuse occurs will be expected to end the party, and students attending such parties will be expected to leave.

"These protocols," said Shedd, "reflect a recognition that students who are given the privilege of representing the school in athletics and student activities are, under long standing School Board policy and school rules, held to a greater responsibility to do the right thing."

The right thing, Shedd told the School Board at their December meeting, is for students who find themselves hosting a party where alcohol or substances are being used is to bring the party to an end. The right thing for students who find themselves attending such parties is to remove themselves and any other students who are depending on them for transportation.

Shedd announced the changes in expectations to students at the High School earlier this month, but student representatives at the board meeting Dec. 10 asked for clarification.

Shedd, in his monthly report to the board, said that students will not be punished for not removing themselves, but that they would be questioned about why they did not follow the protocol.

He said he had no expectation that he will learn of all the parties, or that the rules will stop the far-reaching problem of substance abuse by students in Cape Elizabeth. But he did say it was his responsibility to try and make the rules and policy real for students, and to enforce them fairly. "The school just can't accept a situation where the athletic contract becomes a farce," Shedd said.

Students who sign the contract agree not to use drugs or alcohol.

The new protocol comes on the heels of a student field trip to New York City, where members of an economics class visiting the New York Stock Exchange used alcohol and marijuana in their hotel rooms. The students were suspended from school for two days.

In this month's newsletter to parents, Shedd said the New York incident demonstrated the inequity stemming from enforcement or non-enforcement of policies. While many of the students punished on the New York trip were honest and their transgressions minor, there were many more Cape Elizabeth students at a Thanksgiving weekend party where drinking was widespread. Students drinking there, however, faced no consequences as long as they and their fellow students lied.

In a telephone internview Dec. 20, Superintendent Dr. Thomas Forcella said the new protocols mean that school officials will not look the other way when they learn of parties where high-school students were drinking or using drugs. Such occurrences will be investigated, Forcella said, and he reiterated Shedd's statement in the newsletter that students who attend such parites will not be allowed to participate in activities until the investigation is complete.

"This is not an issue I came to Cape Elizabeth to try and solve," said Principal Shedd, who is in his second year as principal here. "If our attempting to tackle it generates public discussion and debate about the proper role of parents, school, and police, even if the community ends up asking us as a school to step back from our current stance, then perhaps this will be a useful step for our community in the long run," he said.