I’m sure everyone within the regions of the Quinte area is fully aware now of the story of the 13 students who were turned away at their prom because of alcohol.
But just in case for those who may not be I will quickly reiterate: Students at Quinte Secondary School were turned away the night of their prom because three administrators (one being Lisa Vincent, Principal) believed these students to be intoxicated when they arrived. Now apparently the students were told a week or so before that they were not to be taking buses or limos to the prom, but the parents had spoken to the Vice Principal after having already rented the bus for the evening. These students were given the allowance to take their rented bus to the prom. However upon arriving they were turned away because they were assumed intoxicated by the administration staff.
Now I will comment on this specifically in a moment but first I’d like to look at how the Belleville Intelligencer is handling this story. This media outlet seems to be the primary source of the story. They are taking a very clever approach. As no one seems to be talking about this issue, and with good reason, the Intel has adopted a way of reporting on what others will not say, rather than what information the could glean from what they do say.
For example a reporter from the Intel contacted two board trustee members Mary Hall and Dave Patterson. These trustees are meant to speak on behalf of school board matters, or so it states on their website. Though when asked any questions about this push-button situation these board members are referring all calls to Kerry Donnell, the media relations person from the Hastings Prince Edward Board of Education. Kerry Donnell is basically saying that nothing can be said. So there is a sort of wild goose chase happening here.
What Kerry has said when faced with the information from the Board’s website stating they are in place to answer all questions is that this is meant for parents with concerns. So what the Intel has done, is posted the numbers of both trustees on their article in a manner of helping the parents make their own justice. Very clever. Whether or not the board members will say anything more than they have to the parents is not known.
Personally I believe this entire situation was blown out of proportion and while I don’t feel that any teachers or administrators should lose their jobs, I certainly believe they should be talked to and maybe reassessed about where best they fit into the school.
Moving back to what happened that night. I am aware that these students were made fully aware that this was an ‘Alcohol Free’ night. Now to me that means do not bring alcohol and no alcohol will be sold. That does not come out as ‘you are not allowed to drink in the privacy of your own home and then attend this prom.’ Certainly if someone arrived who appeared to be overly intoxicated, that would cause trouble and they should be turned away.
My other thought, and this was brought up in the Intel as well, is that, none of these administrators are actually trained in how to target someone who is intoxicated. Kerry Donnell admitted to this fact herself to the Intel. She commented that the administrators know these students and would be able to tell when they are acting differently. My rebuke: in a school of probably over 1000 students, how do you really know 13 of them that well, especially if you’re not directly teaching them.
And even when an OPP officer, who is trained in finding out if a person is intoxicated, offered a breath test, this was turned down. There are no arguments as to why this was turned down, this is a professional piece of equipment, not a person’s personal judgement. If the breath test was offered the students that wanted to try and take in order to get into the Prom should have been allowed to do so. I reiterate, there is absolutely no reason why this option should have been turned down.
I believe that Lisa Vincent and the two others involved made a poor choice in blockading these students from their one night of personal freedom with their friends. At the very least these students should be refunded their prom money, since they were physically turned away and did not make the decision themselves not to attend.
I truly feel for these students and for their parents who probably shelled out a fair amount of cash as well on helping prepare for this major night in a teenagers life. Let’s hope that the school board makes the right choice and reprimands those involved who turned down a professional breath test.
