Drinking, smoking and doing drugs will meet harsher punishment in Cobb County schools this fall.
The school board approved suspension from sports and extracurricular activities for breaking the rules during the school year and even over the summer, whether on campus or off.
The goal is to apply discipline more uniformly from school to school, said school board spokesman Jay Dillon.
"These days with all these social networking sites, kids are posting pictures of themselves smoking and drinking," Dillon said. Here is a breakdown of the consequences for rule breakers involved in sports and extracurriculars in the 2010 school year.
Drugs, alcohol, inhalants, including misdemeanor DUI:
-- First offense: 25-day suspension, including practice and regular season. Plus suspension from at least 30 percent of regular season games, and mandatory enrollment in a drug treatment program.
-- Second offense: Suspension for 1 year from activities.
-- Third offense: Permanent suspension from activities.
Tobacco (applies only during the season):
-- First offense: 2-day suspension from extracurricular activities.
-- Second offense: 5-day suspension and sit out 10% of activities.
-- Third offense: 10-day suspension and sit out 20% of activities.
-- Fourth offense: 90-day suspension from activities.
Felony DUI: Automatic suspension until sentence served.
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