MILLBURY — The Lake Local Board of Education has a policy for snuffing out bad behavior, such as smoking.

At Wednesday’s meeting, the board voted to revise it, making it just a tad less strict.
In the new policy, a student will have an extra chance to correct behavior before a permanent ban on
sports is imposed.
Board president Tim Krugh said over the last few years, there have been more student appeals for the
smoking violation, which led to this revision in policy. The new policy has four tiers, compared to
three tiers for the former one.
“It’s not really meant to be punitive,” he said.
Krugh said the four tiers help keep the student and parents engaged and in counseling.
For the first tobacco offense, a student must sit out 20 percent of the season.
On the second offense, the athlete will be denied participation for 100 percent of the regularly
scheduled contests of the current sport and postseason contest.
It could extend into the next sport season if the offense occurs during the sport season.
For the third offense, the student is denied contest participation for one calendar year from the date of
the violation. A permanent ban from Lake sports is the punishment for the fourth offense.
The former policy did not have the second offense punishment.
Krugh said that overall, the board is pleased with drug testing, which started 11 years ago at Lake. The
testing, which is mandatory before the athlete’s season starts and random during the season, covers
tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, amphetamines, the synthetic marijuana drug called spice, barbiturates,
methadone, anabolic steroids, opiates, cocaine and Darvon, which is a narcotic pain reliever.
“We were one of the first schools in the state to do it,” he said. “It gives them an excuse, a reason to
say ‘no.’”