EAST HAVEN, Conn. -- A policy stating that any high school athletes caught with possession of alcohol will be kicked off the team has been changed. Now, athletes will only be suspended for 20 percent of the season.

Some parents refused to back down saying rules are rules when it comes to a zero tolerance policy at East Haven High.

Four East Haven high school football players and two cheerleaders were ticketed by police for being in possession of alcohol. Now, a school policy that has been in place since 1997 saying no more sports for the rest of the year has been changed.

The school system said that it still had its zero tolerance policy in place, but now it has three phases.

For the first offense of being in possession of alcohol, high school athletes will now be suspended for 20 percent of its season, or two football games and will have to meet with the school's social worker before being reinstated.

If the high school athlete is caught in possession of alcohol for a second time, they are suspended for the rest of the year, from the sport that they were playing.

Finally, if the high school athlete is caught in possession of alcohol for a third time, they have a full suspension from all athletics.

Some people are angry saying, "These school systems, it goes the way they want, this is what they do."

Others think its a good policy saying, "I don't think there is any folding at all. Think we're stronger now."

After the high school athletes were suspended for the season, parents became angry and showed up at the Board of Education meeting Tuesday night to protest the suspensions.

Liz Esposito said her son was kicked off the football team after he was ticketed by police at a party with underage drinking. Esposito said, " I guess he went in to get these two girls, the cops came in and they ticketed a whole bunch of kids. There's no proof, no proof at all that they were drinking."

East Haven's superintendent originally said that they had one of the most strict policies in the state and there was no wiggle room when it came down to the school's alcohol policy.