When Erin Cox of North Andover, Mass. chose to pick up her drunk friend from a party a few weeks ago, Cox made the right decision to not allow her friend to drive drunk.
Unfortunately for Cox, her school district is handling the situation poorly.
North Andover High School, where Cox attends, stripped her of her volleyball captaincy and suspended her for five games because school authorities said she violated their zero-tolerance policy regarding alcohol.
It would’ve made sense to punish Cox if she had attended the party, was drinking and so on, but she didn’t do any of those things, and a police officer who broke up the party later vouched for her, saying that she didn’t have alcohol in her system and had only arrived to pick up her friend.
The school has overreached in this situation and needs to give Cox back her captaincy. She has already missed the five games, so she can never have those back. The school is sending the wrong message to its students, which also contradicts its edict listed on its website: “North Andover students will demonstrate service. They believe the growth and improvement of a relationship and community depends on the willingness of others to contribute support to the greater good.”
Obviously the school works only in semantics and not in the actual practice of what it preaches.
The decision to suspend Cox is telling students that it is better to let a fellow classmate drive drunk because trying to do the right thing will get them into trouble.
Cox’s mother, Eleanor, filed a lawsuit against the school district in district court, but the court ruled it was out of its jurisdiction.
We understand the benefits of enacting zero-tolerance alcohol policies at high schools. It makes sense to hold students to a standard of not drinking, which is illegal in the United States for any person younger than 21. It also makes sense to have these policies so that students don’t drive drunk, which is a dangerous practice. According to the organization Mothers Against Drunk Driving, drunk driving accidents account for one-third of all automobile accidents.
The school should be praising Cox for doing the right thing, and picking up her friend, ensuring that she wouldn’t drive intoxicated. In the future, Cox might not make the same decision if confronted with the same situation, which could cause a friend to get behind the wheel of the car and drive drunk.
It seems that school officials in this case would rather see that happen than have a student make a good choice. If the school really wanted to teach students about choices, they would use Cox as a lesson in making the right decision. Instead, the school is only confounding what should be a simple issue.
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Today’s editorial was written by Sports Editor Al Edwards on behalf of the Journal Tribune Editorial Board. Questions? Comments? Contact Managing Editor Kristen Schulze Muszynski by calling 282-1535, ext. 322, or via email at kristenm@journaltribune.com.
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