'We Have a Problem with Binge Drinking:' Bethesda Parent

BETHESDA, MD — The role of underage drinking in Montgomery County — from students drunk at prom to teens killed in car crashes to students ill at school from alcohol — was the focus of a recent town hall meeting in Bethesda.

Thursday’s meeting was organized by the Parent Teacher Student Associations and principals from Walter Johnson, Walt Whitman and Bethesda-Chevy Chase high schools after several incidents last school year involved students arriving to school events sick from alcohol. Organizers said their aim was to keep students safe and keep alcohol out of school events.

And Montgomery County Police on Thursday reminded parents and children that stronger punishment for party hosts who serve alcohol to underage drinkers went into effect Oct. 1. Alex and Calvin’s Law, as it is known, was enacted after two Thomas Wootton graduates died in a crash following an underage party. Adults who host parties where alcohol is served to minors can now face jail time and a $5,000 fine.

“We have a problem with binge drinking and alcohol abuse and we thought that possibly it would show a united front that this isn’t just one school, it’s all of our schools,” said Bethesda-Chevy Chase Parent Teacher Student Association President Deb Ford, reports Montgomery Community Media.

The community debated punishment for students who drink last spring when the head of Montgomery County Schools allowed students to participate in graduation ceremonies after underage drinking – a move that overturned a principal’s decision.

Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School Principal Donna Redmond-Jones disciplined six students who drank alcohol during prom activities, the Washington Post reports. Then interim superintendent Larry A. Bowers reversed the graduation ban imposed by Redmond-Jones.

“It’s really difficult as a principal to know that here’s a student who is in my care and they could be vomiting violently or they could be passed out and you have no idea what they’ve taken into their bodies or how much,” said Redmond-Jones at Thursday’s town hall gathering.

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 in the past 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
• Teen Drinking, Graduation Decision Continue to Stir Controversy

The issue of teen drinking took on even more importance after the Wootton deaths more than 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.

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