Carroll school officials usurped the role of parents when they punished dozens of Westminster High School students for attending a private party where teens were drinking, a group of parents contends.

Even though the students say they weren't drinking, they have been barred from extracurricular activities for 45 days, because of a long-standing policy that applies to students who knowingly place themselves in "close proximity" to underage drinking or drug use, on or off school grounds.

The issue has landed in Carroll County Circuit Court, where Judge Francis M. Arnold concluded two days of testimony yesterday in a lawsuit brought by 12 of the students and their parents.

"I am going to consult with the authorities and make a decision as soon as possible," the judge said.

Arnold has been asked to order the students reinstated to teams, clubs and other activities until the underlying issues in the case can be decided.

"We don't believe the Board of Education has the right to intervene in our lives 24 hours a day," said Jody Mark Farver, the father of plaintiffs Nicholas and Matthew Farver, who were barred from extracurricular activities.

In a socially conservative county such as Carroll, the case is a collision of two community standards: a strong anti-drug message and deference to parents' rights.

The policy is somewhat unusual, say educators from other school systems. Most other cases where students have lost such privileges involved police intervention, or direct involvement with drinking or drug use.

But Carroll school officials applied the policy to students who attended a private party, whether the students were drinking or not. They punished only students who acknowledged being there. Those who denied they were at the party were not punished.

A judge must decide whether to step in before decisions are reached by the school board and State Board of Education, which usually would hear such cases before they go to court. But time is running out as the athletic season moves along without the students, some of whom are hoping to apply for athletic scholarships.

The students say they left the party as soon as they could after noticing drinking. In most cases, they were at the party 30 to 60 minutes. But school officials have determined from testimony from many students that these 12 did not leave early enough.

The parents disagree.

"Our kids did the right thing -- they got out of that environment, and they're still being punished," Farver said in an interview after testimony ended yesterday.

"In no way are we condoning the use of alcohol and drugs by minors -- or anyone, for that matter," Farver said. "We simply believe there are some policies the Board of Education uses that are extreme and inappropriate. The intent is good, but I cannot believe that when the policy was written, they understood how far-reaching and negative an impact it can have on kids."

School officials say the policy reflects what most parents want -- a strong message against drugs and alcohol, and a tool students can use to avoid unsafe situations.

"It was intended to [assist] students who might not have the courage to say, 'I'm not going to put myself in that situation,' " said William H. Hyde, superintendent of schools, who testified yesterday.

The rationale, he said, was that students would be more likely to decline such parties if they were in danger of losing their place on a team or in a club.

The rule applies to extracurricular activities, he said, because they are a privilege, and those students are role models to younger students.

It applies to off-campus and nonschool activities because those are where most drinking and drug use occur, said Dorothy D. Mangle, assistant superintendent of schools.

She said students are well aware of the rule, and it is explained to them at the beginning of each athletic season, as well as at schoolwide assemblies at the beginning of the year.

"The policy has been in effect at least since the plaintiffs were toddlers," said Edmund O'Meally, lawyer for the Carroll County Board of Education.

Sue Ann Tabler, executive director of the Maryland Association of Secondary School Principals and a former principal in Howard County, said she knows of no other county in the state that has such a far-reaching policy.

Ronald Peiffer, spokesman for the State Department of Education, said he had no data on such policies, and that cases could exist where individual high schools might have rules that are more restrictive than the county rules.

Pub Date: 3/19/99