Alcoholics Anonymous Reviews

The principal of Anthony Wayne High School says there's a serious problem amongst his students -- underage drinking. An alcohol survey conducted last year by the Lucas County Community Partnership shows that 70% of juniors and 60% of sophmores tried alcohol in the past year. Now principal James Conner has overhauled the student code of conduct to address underage drinking.

Mac Church is a junior at Anthony Wayne High School. He juggles his studies with soccer and football practices. Now he's part of a school-wide effort to fight an underage drinking problem that's plaguing the student body. "A lot of the younger kids, you could tell, would be very good kids and then change a lot when they came into high school because it's very easy to get a hold of," said Church.

It's a problem the staff has known about for a long time. "Our parents need to know that we have the highest alcohol consumption rate in the county compared to some of our suburban neighbors," said principal James Conner.

With the help of students like church, parents and staff, Conner has made major changes to this year's student code of conduct. It holds student athletes and other kids who do after-school activities accountable year around. "You can't say to a teenage kid, 'You can't drink during football season, but if you drink outside of football season, there's no penalty,'" said Conner.

Those who are caught will have to sit out part of their seasons, plus a counselor will make recommendations for treatment if necessary. But Conner hopes the new code will also give those students an easy excuse to sit out the drinking parties instead.

WTOL-TV Toledo