The rain shouldn’t fool us. It’s spring; proms are upon us; graduation is coming very soon; and the carefree days of summer are just around the corner. Last year’s debacle in Monterey for some Live Oak students should be very much on our minds as we see our teens head out for some of the most memorable evenings of their lives.
I don’t know what plans Live Oak has made this year after last year’s fiasco. (To recap: Live Oak held its Senior Ball last year at a site in Monterey. High school students rented – some with the help of their parents – hotel rooms afterward and the lack of supervision that was conducive to drinking resulted in multiple visits by Monterey police to quell public disturbances, and one student falling over the third-floor balcony).
Some parents called for the school to do something, and I haven’t heard if it has. I invite the principals at Live Oak and Gilroy high schools to write to the papers to inform the community at large what precautions have been taken to keep kids safe for prom and graduation. And, if they haven’t made specific plans yet, I’d like to link them to the Substance Abuse Prevention Partnerships in Gilroy and Morgan Hill, who would like to help them come up with such plans and provide some support as they present them to communities that sometimes cloak themselves in denial of the extent of underage drinking.
The schools could require a local site for the events, charter a school bus to transport students if it’s a distant site, and clearly admonish parents against renting hotel rooms for their children. However, there are many actions parents can take, too.
First, ditch the misguided idea that the prom is too far away for Johnny and Susie to drive home afterward “when they’re tired” and they are safer in a hotel room for the night. In fact, they’re not too tired to party on, and are at higher risk for injury because of the lack of supervision. If you’re worried, hire a limousine to drive them, chauffeur them yourself or require them to leave the prom earlier.
If you do hire a limousine, instruct the driver to put coats, jackets and purses in the trunk before driving away. I recently attended a concert where I witnessed teens literally stagger out of a limousine littered with small airline-size liquor bottles.
Discourage your teens from appointing a designated driver. That concept was intended for adults, not teens. Ever tried to manage to get two drunk friends into a car? Finally you get one into the car, the other has wandered off. It can make a funny story, but sober teens are too young to cope with the responsibilities if anything goes wrong.
Kids most often access alcohol in their own homes. Graduation and the late nights of summer are conducive to parties, and some parents express the belief that it’s better for the kids to drink at home. “At least I know where they are. And they aren’t out driving somewhere where they can get into trouble.”
Letting kids drink at home leads to parties with underage drinking and trouble. Morgan Hill has a local ordinance that empowers the police to threaten “host” parents with liability for disturbing the peace. However, the term is vague, as are the consequences.
Members of the Substance Abuse Prevention Partnership in Morgan Hill are looking at strengthening this “social host ordinance” to resemble some that have been enacted in Ventura and San Diego Counties. There, the host of a party is financially liable for any costs for police having to come and break up a party if underage drinking is found. An adult homeowner can claim ignorance, but to no avail court challenges to the ordinance have shown. Intended or not, if you own the home, are the adult, and kids are there drinking, you’re considered the host and are responsible. Pay up.
There are some who believe that meth use is the bigger problem, but talk to any meth user; he will tell you he started with alcohol first. The costs of underage drinking are too burdensome to be borne by our community: academic failure, dysfunction at home and work, injury and death of loved ones.
People lose their inhibitions when under the influence, and a lot of damage can occur. This is the time when youth are most likely to use. Let’s not bury our heads in the sand, believing it won’t happen to “our kid.” It can. Take precautions.
Columnist Dina Campeau is a wife, mother of two teens and a resident of Morgan Hill. Her work for the last seven years has focused on affordable housing and homeless issues in Santa Clara County. Her column will be published each Friday. Reach her at
dc******@ch*****.net
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