Editor’s note: The following comments by Gorham Superintendent Ted Sharp were made at a televised school committee meeting on March 14. Sharp was responding to stories in the American Journal concerning drinking by high school hockey players. Grandparents of a hockey player had written a letter to school administrators questioning why players were not suspended from a playoff game for their invovlement in a party where alcohol was consumed.
I want to comment very briefly on an incident that seems to be getting an inordinate amount of attention in the press for reasons some of us don’t quite understand.
Let me put it into this context. The Gorham public schools, for as long as anybody can remember, has never, and that’s the word, has never discussed suspensions and/or expulsions of students in the public and never intends to.
We feel that we have a moral obligation as a school committee and an administration to keep in trust those students who are sent us by their parents. That should never be misconstrued that the school district and the administration don’t take very seriously indiscretions and inappropriate behaviors that our young people have and will, on occasion, engage themselves with because they are young people and they are constantly seeking our guidance.
The district has policies in place and has procedures in place and it’s the expectation of the school committee and the expectation of the superintendent that those policies and those procedures are carried out to the letter.
And if and when they are not, and I don’t mean this in an imperialistic manner at all, obviously we would have conversations with the people who have areas of responsibilities. And our expectations are that they would carry out those policies and procedures.
It is very rare in any school district that that breaks down. Rare. Of course it happens.
In this instance, we are all aware of what went on to the degree that anybody can be. We are supportive of the way it was disposed. And we are going to carry on.
And, if we are, to quote a paper, tight-lipped, it’s the morally responsible way to conduct ourselves.
We will review at the next policy committee meeting all of our policies that are in any way attendant to this, as we would in a matter of course when something arises.
That doesn’t suggest going into that review there is anything wrong with our policies. It simply means it’s an opportunity to review them.
And if we decide in our review we want to amend them, the policy committee has that within their right to bring that forth to the whole school committee for their deliberation and their action. And we will do that.
The policy in question has been the policy in this school district for almost 17 years. It is used all the time in dealing with kids.
And the fact that this happens to be ice hockey players and therefore gets some play forgets this is the policy for everybody in our school district.
And I don’t have a habit, nor has anyone in this district, nor any district that I have ever worked in in the public sector, of calling up people so they can circulate what happened to what kids. And I hope I’m never asked to do it. Because if I were, I wouldn’t be in this business.
How many times do we read in the press that the names weren’t released because they were minors? These are minors.
I believe I can speak for the school committee that we will not entertain any more discussions or questions on this issue until, unless we might come back and say as a result of this we have decided to make some modification in our policy.
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