Teen Drinking, Graduation Decision Continue to Stir Controversy

BETHESDA, MD — A decision by the head of Montgomery County Schools to allow students to participate in graduation ceremonies after underage drinking – a move that overturned a principal’s decision -- continues to stir debate among parents and Patch readers.

Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School Principal Donna Redmond Jones in the days leading up to last month’s prom warned students that anyone caught drinking or using drugs before or during the alcohol-free prom would not be allowed to take part in graduation. Six students were disciplined, the Washington Post reports, including several seniors.

On Friday, interim superintendent Larry A. Bowers said he had reversed the graduation ban. Although the students “consumed alcohol during prom activities,” Bowers said in a letter to parents, he had decided the seniors could walk across the stage to receive their diplomas during the ceremony on June 1.

Bethesda Patch reader Mario D'Ambrosio commented on Tuesday's coverage of the decision, “So the real message is: your actions do NOT have consequences. Not good.”

»Read Interim Superintendent Larry Bowers’ full letter to Bethesda-Chevy Chase HS parents below.

Bowers wrote that while he supports the work the school is “doing to promote student safety and healthy decision-making,” school board policy generally forbids exclusion from graduation as a disciplinary tool.

“This is a horrible precedent for the interim superintendent to set. Mr. Bowers has worked for MCPS for 37 years, is retiring in two weeks, and sadly, his legacy will be that he did not back up a principal on an extremely important issue -- underage drinking,” said a parent of three MCPS students, Patch reader Momof3Boys621.

“I only hope that the incoming Superintendent, Mr. Jack Smith, will have the balls to stand up to these ridiculous, narcissistic parents and children,” the reader added.

In his May 27 letter to families, Bowers expressed support for the school’s principal.

“I want to be clear that I stand by Dr. Redmond-Jones and the parent, staff and student leadership in their commitment to student safety and well being, and I am asking for the support of all of you in this critical work,” he said. “We need to come together to continue to address the issue of alcohol and and substance abuse in our communities, and I commend Dr. Redmond-Jones for her efforts this year.”

Another reader said that the early warnings to teens that their place in graduation was at risk by drinking should mean the principal’s decision stood.

“It's hard to understand how children could complain about the penalty when they were forewarned,”reader Kim said in comments. “I guess all this talk about stopping under-age drinking is just rhetoric used to make authorities look like they care.”

• Is keeping a student out of a graduation ceremony too serious a penalty for underage drinking? Tell us your thoughts in comments below.

Since the June 2015 car crash deaths of two recent Wootton High School graduates after an underage drinking party with a drunk friend behind the wheel, school administrators have hammered on the consequences of teens drinking.

From the possible criminal charges underage drinkers face to school sanctions such as being barred from prom or graduation, the message this year at county high schools was drinking comes with penalties.

SEE ALSO:

• ‘This Must Stop’: Principal Tells Parents Hosting Teen Drinking Parties
• Driver in Fatal Crash Out of Hospital; Court Date Looms
• Teens Attended Underage Drinking Party Before Deadly Crash, Police Say (Updated)
• ‘It’s a Parent’s Worst Nightmare,’ Says Father of Teen Killed in Crash

The issue of teen drinking took on even more importance after the Wootton deaths a year ago. In that case, driver Sam Ellis pleaded guilty in April to two counts of vehicular homicide.

Four teens left an underage drinking party on June 25, 2015, police have said, when Ellis’ car left the road, struck a tree and flipped over, killing Alexander Murk, 18, of Potomac and Calvin Jia-Xing Li, 18, of Rockville. The Potomac man who hosted the alleged underage drinking party pleaded guilty to furnishing alcohol to a minor.