Red Oak students may face breath tests at dances
Fri, 12/05/2008 - 12:00am
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REDee^OAK — High school students heading to a dance may have to pass a breath test to get in.
That’s one of two proposals the Red Oak School Board is considering as a way to curtail underage drinking at school functions.
The second option is contracting with a law enforcement officer to monitor youth who attend dances.
The board and school district employees discussed the proposal during a meeting Monday, Nov. 17.
The discussion, in part, stemmed from the Sept. 20 Homecoming Dance “debacle” — as one school official called it during the meeting.
During the dance, Red Oak police arrested six students, including at least two Homecoming queen candidates, for underage drinking.
School officials hinted that the number of students arrested should’ve been higher.
According to Superintendent Terryee^Schmidt, once word got out police were arresting drunken students, “the cell phones came out.”
Schmidt said he believes several students called someone to come and pick them up before police did.
Schmidt called on the board to put a “significant deterrent” in place to prevent future such incidents.
School officials said such a deterrent could be purchasing a Breathalyzer or contracting law enforcement.
They pointed out that many schools breath test students believed to have been drinking prior to or during a school function.
“Some schools are testing everybody,” Schmidt said, referring to one proposal to have all students pass a Breathalyzer test before being allowed to enter a dance.
Schmidt said he didn’t necessarily believe it was appropriate to breath test all students, but that the district needs to do something.”
Board member Lee Fellers agreed.
“A number of parents have come up to me and said test all kids,” he said.
The board stopped short of making a decision, but requested staff look into costs associated with purchasing a Breathalyzer or hiring law enforcement to monitor dances.
If the district opts to hire law enforcement, board members suggested locking the doors to a dance about an hour after it starts.
That way, the district could pay for law enforcement to monitor students entering the dance for one hour. After that, no student would be allowed to enter.