(WSBT) Before student athletes head back to school, lace up their shoes and hit the gym for practice, they must sign the athletic code of conduct.

Most codes state, in general, that student athletes will not harm the reputation of their school through negative behavior. But if you read the fine lines you'll see that some codes contain different information. Some of that information students overlook all-together, especially if there's no intention of violating it.

"Most kids and most parents ... really believe this and they never intend to violate them so they don’t pay attention to it," said Fred Smith, Buchanan High School athletic director, in response to student athletes violating the code of conduct.

So when an athlete does violate the code, their punishment may come as a surprise.

This rang true for Clay High School junior Parker Durham. Durham was cited by Van Buren County, Mich. police for Minor in Possession by Consumption of Alcohol, after being caught drinking at a party this summer.

When told that he would be suspended from sports at Clay for 30 days, he questioned the code of conduct claiming that it does not specify that the "school year" includes summer months. He and his parents are now suing the South Bend School Corporation.

Riley High School Athletic Director John Berta said, in defense of Clay High Schools decision to suspend Durham, “...code of conduct says it’s a school year but we consider a school year to be from July 1 through June 30.”

Some local high schools in Indiana and Michigan — Berrien Springs High School in Michigan, Buchanan High School in Michigan and Marian High School in Indiana — specify that summer months are included in the code of conduct as part of the school year.

According to the online athletic code of conduct for Marian High School, "the Athletic Code is in effect twenty-four hours a day, twelve months a year. Further more, violations of the Athletic Code are cumulative from season to season and year to year throughout the student athlete’s high school career.”

Buchanan High School also makes it clear in writing.

“It says in our code of conduct that violations include summer months on or off school property," Smith said during a phone interview with WSBT.

Alan Alsbro, Berrien Springs Athletic Director, is no stranger to putting the code of conduct into action. "We’ve had it before — like an MIP in June — and it’s a year round thing," he said.

Some say that athletics events and team meetings take place outside of the season all the time and that summer months shouldn't be an exception.

But what if the code of conduct does not specify how long a "school year" is? Both Mattawan High School and South Bend Saint Joseph High School lack terms for clarification on whether or not summer months are included.

The Parker Durham case may lead to a re-writing of Clay High School's code of conduct.