Jazzman:
You make an excellent point regarding Policies and Proceedures of the School System and this particular school itself. The statement in the original post that caught my interest was the Superintendant's [belated to be sure] suggestion that the coach should discipline the young man, who apparently "after some tap dancing" admitted that he stole the bat, "similar to when players are caught smoking/drinking/drugs."
Some have argued that stealing a bat is worse that those three but it could be asked, if stealing is that bad, why is it not given its own catagory in the School Systems Policies and Proceedures Manuals as is, apparently, "smoking/drinking/drugs". If the school does not have a sepecific sanction somewhere in its Manual for theft and the high school baseball coach has nothing in his handouts or whatever that is given to the players about theft and discipline for that offense, his power and authority to discipline players comes from and through the school system and not through some inherent right to dole out punishment as he sees fit.
I, of course, have not read any Manuals, Handouts, or anything else that might help perdict how this matter might be resolved in a court of law. And, from what I can discern, neither has anyone else who has posted so far. But if the Superintendent was advised by the School District's legal counsel that "if the parents sued, the Coach and the school wouldn't have a leg to stand on" as is suggested in the original post that started this thread, I would take that as strong evidence that there is nothing in the the School's Policies and Proceedures Manual about the appropriate discipline for theft because I am pretty sure the School District's lawyer knows what the Manual says.
Just my opinion, of course.
TW344