San Ramon Valley school officials are examining whether to make changes in the code of conduct for students enrolled in extracurricular activities.
A committee of athletic directors and other members has been formed. They're expected to submit a recommendation to the school board before the end of June.
School officials say the main reason for the study is to try to make the conduct code consistent throughout the district.
"We want one standard of conduct, one standard of expectations and one standard of punishment," said San Ramon Valley Unified School District spokesman Terry Koehne.
The district does have a district-wide code of conduct for sports, clubs and other after-school activities. It covers grades, enrollment, attendance, use of controlled substances and other topics.
However, some schools as well as some coaches and program directors have agreements with their students that are stricter.
Koehne said there have been some instances this year where parents and students have challenged a punishment because of the differences between school-level and district-level policies.
Koehne would not elaborate on those incidents.
School board president Paul Gardner said the review is standard for the board. He said they try to update policies every year.
He said making the code of conduct consistent is important.
"We want the same expectations and punishment applied no matter where the student is," he said.
School trustee Greg Marvel said policies need to change with the times. What students do and what's expected of them changes over the years, he said.
He said the consistency should make it easier for coaches, principals and other school officials to level punishments against offenders.
He acknowledged that some parents do defend their children after they violate the code of conduct, making enforcement difficult.
"We don't want to punish someone for punishment sake," Marvel said. "However, if the facts are there, a parent needs to support the school. We want to teach children they can't wiggle out of punishment."
He said sports can be a difficult activity to enforce punishment because athletes sometimes have scholarships riding on their performance.
"So, that's why we need to be consistent," Marvel said. "Students need to know if you do 'x,' you're going to get kicked off the team."
