Harrisonburg attorney calls for variance in RCPS alcohol policy

HARRISONBURG, Va. (WHSV) – A Harrisonburg attorney is sounding the alarm about what he said is a loophole in the new Rockingham County Public Schools alcohol and drug policy. Louis Nagy claims the Rockingham County School Board didn’t follow its own rules based on the policy it adopted a few months ago.

The Rockingham County School Board revised its school alcohol and drug policy back in August. Although alcohol is included in the policy title, it is not mentioned again elsewhere in the policy. Instead, the policy only includes specific guidelines related to drug violations.

“Any lawyer who looks at this will see that there are big problems here. We did this in part to warn them that they need to fix this policy,” Nagy said. “So the question now is if they’re going to fix it, when are they going to fix it and how are they going to fix it? Because it needs to be fixed.”

If a student violates the alcohol and drug policy, there are sanctions including in-school or out-of-school suspension, being placed in poor school, and becoming ineligible to compete on a sports team. However, these penalties are only mentioned in cases of drug violations.

“Anyone with an ounce of common sense can read this policy and see that alcohol is not included in it. But what they’re doing is ignoring the rules they wrote themselves and still punishing Rockingham County Public Schools students under a policy that doesn’t include or tell them what would happen if they were caught drinking at school. property,” Nagy said.

The RCPS defines alcohol as a restricted substance in a different policy. However, that term is not used in the new drug and alcohol policy.

“That doesn’t appear anywhere else, as far as I can tell, in any of their policies. If you read the restricted substance policy, the penalty they can impose for an alcohol violation is basically recommend that the student go to some kind of counseling or treatment and that’s about it,” Nagy said.

It is illegal for all K-12 students to consume or possess alcohol, but Nagy said that doesn’t mean the school division can impose sanctions that aren’t clearly spelled out in its policies.

“I, as a citizen, do not know how I will break the rule if I do not put it in writing. Here, what happened is they put together a policy that they intended, I’m sure, to include alcohol, but it just doesn’t,” Nagy said. “They don’t follow the rules they set themselves. Again, we didn’t write the rules, we didn’t create the rules – they did – and now they’re not following the rules they set for all Rockingham County students and their parents.”

Nagy said he contacted the school board and its attorney about the gap in policy, but that his concerns were ignored. He is asking families of students who have been disciplined for drinking violations under the new policy to contact him.

WHSV reached out to Rockingham County Public Schools about Nagy’s concerns. Superintendent Larry Shifflett sent the following statement in response:

“In accordance with Virginia law, Virginia Board of Education policies and RCPS policies, K-12 students are not permitted to possess or consume alcohol. This is not new and should not be controversial. Attempts to stir it up are rooted in individuals and families upset about the consequences of their actions.”