To catch rule-breakers, schools look online

High schools across Massachusetts are threatening to punish athletes if they are spotted drinking alcohol or using drugs in photos or videos posted on MySpace , YouTube , or other online sites.

School officials say they are enforcing existing bans on smoking or drinking, and turning to online sites to catch the rule-breakers. In at least 20 high schools across the state, principals are warning athletes that they will punish them for behavior caught online , according to the state's secondary school principals group and athletic association. The two groups estimate that dozens of schools are using this tactic. Several schools have suspended students from games.

Woburn High School suspended a handful of athletes from two practices and one game last spring after police recognized the athletes holding cans of beer in photographs posted on MySpace. This year, Newton South High School notified athletes they could be suspended if captured breaking the rules in photographs or video online.

Schools generally do not punish nonathletes for behavior outside school, but the 175,000 student athletes in Massachusetts must follow a code of conduct that bans drug and alcohol use during the season. The Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association , which governs school sports, requires schools to, at a minimum, suspend first offenders for 25 percent of the games and subsequent offenders for 60 percent. Individual schools can set tougher rules, including removing students from teams or enforcing the rules year-round.

Schools already have been warning students to be careful about what they post online, but punishing athletes for misdeeds online is a more aggressive approach.

"We're dealing with a new world," said Ron Lanham, Newton South High's athletic director , who said he would rely on tips and doesn't plan to comb through the sites . "We don't want to be seen as the MySpace police. But we're looking out for the best interests of our athletes."

After Newton South officials spoke with students about the new policy, some expressed surprise, saying they thought the information they posted was private. School officials informed them that the Internet is as public as the town common.

But online evidence may be questionable legally, said lawyers who work on civil rights and education issues. Photographs online could have been doctored, and the date they were posted could be unclear, said Sarah Wunsch , a staff lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts.

Wunsch said schools should ensure that students get a fair hearing, which the athletic association's rules require.

"There may be some due process rights for kids about the fairness of this," she said. "Anybody could use Photoshop and stick somebody's head on that; you could get somebody in trouble."

The courts have upheld an athletic association's right to set special rules for athletes because sports are not required in school, said Paul Wetzel , spokesman for the Massachusetts athletic association.

Principals said they tread carefully once they get a tip about content on a website. Bob Norton , Woburn High principal, said he investigates student behavior only when he gets a police tip about a student breaking the rules. Last spring, he said, a police officer conducting an unrelated investigation recognized some of the town's athletes in photographs on MySpace that showed "clearly a party situation." Police forwarded the photos to Norton. He said he interviewed the athletes and they confessed.

"I don't sit here in the afternoon by myself and say, 'Let's see who I can catch on MySpace,' " Norton said. "What we are trying to do is have our kids do things that are healthy and safe. I'm not interested in the penalties as much as I am interested in the message."

At Newton South High, several students recently told the school newspaper, The Lion's Roar, that they supported the policy. In a Globe interview yesterday, junior Courtney Chaloff , captain of the volleyball and cross-country ski teams, said she hoped the policy would deter students from drinking or using drugs. She said she has seen pictures of students at her school with beer bottles online.

"I don't think athletes should be doing that sort of thing to their bodies," said Chaloff, 16, who frequents Facebook , another website . "I would never do it, and if I did, I would never post pictures of myself online."

Her mother, Jamie Chaloff, said she supports the school's policy . "They're really only doing it for the good of the kid," she said. "There are so many parents who don't know what their children are doing."

School and athletic association officials said they expect enforcement to increase as school officials become more Internet-savvy .

Robert Gay , North Attleboro High's principal, recently informed all student athletes that they could be punished for behavior caught online.

"I have no doubt that this is going to be an issue," said Gay, also president of the Massachusetts Secondary School Administrators' Association . "If the kids are foolish enough to post a photograph, or someone posts a photograph that they're in, most principals would take some sort of action on it."