Livingston Students’ Boozy Tradition Spurs High School To Action

LIVINGSTON, NJ — At the start of every school year, rising seniors at Livingston High School have taken part in an unofficial rite of passage at the parking lot near Madonna Field, camping out overnight to “reserve” a space for the coming year.

But the tradition may have seen its final go-round, according to school authorities, who are alleging that the annual event has turned into a huge tailgating party with underage drinking.

Livingston town officials issued a statement on Tuesday explaining the decision to close the parking lot until 7 a.m. that morning.

“As many residents are aware, there has a been a tradition at Livingston High School in which rising seniors would wait to reserve parking spaces in the parking lot near Madonna Field. In recent years, the ‘tradition’ had basically evolved into hundreds of students, unsupervised, spending the night in the parking lot partying, which has included underage drinking. This year, due to these documented problems and safety concerns, the School District and Board of Education made the decision to keep the parking lot closed until 7 a.m. on Tuesday, September 4. At the request of the School District, the Police Department provided assistance in keeping the lot closed by placing traffic cones across the driveway entrances.”

The incoming senior class didn’t take the decision well, authorities said.

“Unfortunately, the police soon discovered that the cones had been thrown into trash cans and students had written with chalk on the parking lot. While some of the chalk writings purported to ‘reserve’ parking spaces, there was also vulgar and profane language and inappropriate graffiti and drawings written on the parking lot. As this parking lot is open to the general public, the Police Department had no choice but to have the Fire Department hose down the lot to remove the offensive language and drawings.”

Questions or concerns over the decision to keep the parking lot closed until 7 a.m. or how senior parking will be handled in the future should be directed to the school district’s offices, municipal officials said.

• See related article: Livingston School Calendar 2018-19 (First Day Of School And More)

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