N.J. school district's off-campus behavior policy struck down

NEWARK - A North Jersey school district's code of conduct that extended to off-campus behavior was struck down Tuesday by an appeals court that said the policy exceeded the authority given to local districts by the state.

The case stemmed from a policy instituted in 2009 by the Ramapo Indian Hills School District in Bergen County. It sought to ban students from extracurricular activities if they were charged with illegal activities regardless of whether the alleged behavior occurred on school grounds.

The policy was created to combat "the consumption, possession, and distribution of illicit drugs and alcohol by students" occurring outside of school property, according to court filings.

A first violation would lead to a seven-day suspension from activities, a second violation would sideline a student for 90 days, and a third would carry a 180-day penalty.

The parents of a female student who refused to sign a consent form at the beginning of the school year petitioned the state's education commissioner to invalidate the policy.

Rochelle Hendricks, the state's acting education commissioner at the time, determined that schools can only punish students for off-campus behavior to spare them or others from harm, and the misconduct must have "some link to the school environment."

In Tuesday's 31-page opinion, the three-judge appeals panel agreed with Hendricks' determination and noted that while school districts have the authority to ban students who test positive for drugs from extracurricular activities, for instance, the school still has to show "a nexus between the student's conduct and the orderly administration of the school" to justify regulating off-campus behavior.

The judges rejected the school board's argument that participation in extracurricular activities is a privilege, not a right, and therefore not subject to special protection under the law.

Since the policy doesn't limit the conduct that would trigger the suspension solely to drug and alcohol use, the judges wrote, "a student could be suspended from participating in extracurricular activities as the result of receiving a citation for littering on a municipal sidewalk."

Messages left for Ramapo Indian Hills superintendent C. Lauren Schoen and an attorney representing the school district were not returned Tuesday.

A spokesman for the New Jersey School Boards Association, which filed court papers in support of the school district, said the organization was disappointed by the ruling.

"We believe the regulations governing extracurricular activities give school boards the authority to set that type of policy," spokesman Frank Belluscio said. He added the ruling's impact wouldn't be significant because most other districts' policies reflect the education commissioner's original ruling.

The American Civil Liberties Union, which submitted a brief in support of the state, praised the ruling.

"Schools play a dominant role for most children, but that unique status does not grant them carte blanche in the lives of students," ACLU-NJ legal director Ed Barocas said. "Unless a student's behavior outside of school directly and substantially disrupts the school, discipline rests with the parents and the juvenile justice system."