Landon Dance

[Anonymous]

This doesn't sound like a dance, it sounds like an open house. Many (or most) schools require students inviting friends to submit their name and school and a parent contact number by Friday end of school the Friday before the dance. As for drinking, it is everywhere, private and public school functions and parties where the parents are home.

[Anonymous]

There is a lot of bad information going around. Landon hired off duty police officers to monitor the dance along with having at least 14 faculty members. The police turned away a few students that were drunk. Landon closed the dance but parents dropping off allowed their kids to walk to the gym which created huge problems. All three students that were drinking before the dance were from independent schools (not Landon). The public school students were well behaved (fyi you had to show a school ID to enter the dance). Private schools have dances all the time and drinking occurs everytime. The police officers told me that they respond to school dances on a regular basis. As for the "open policy" this is a common practice. GDS is hosting a dance in two weeks that is openn to any HS students.

[Anonymous]

So are any of these claims "bad information"?

1. over 1000 kids
2. ambulance took two kids to the hospital with signs of alcohol poisoning
3. school had to shut down the dance early
4. Fairfax County police were called in

[Anonymous]

1. False-Under 1000 kids at the dance
2. True- The ambulance did take away two kids (boys)
3. The school decided to shut down the dance early to make sure that students were not drinking inside the dance.
4. False- Fairfax County Police were not called in. I am guessing you meant MCPD. The police were not called in they responded to the EMT call.

[Anonymous]

Where do the nice kids who don't drink and don't go to these parties go to school? This is not meant to be a snarky question. If drinking is ubiquitous at many private and public social events, as the above posters suggest, I want to know where I can send my kids where they will not feel like social misfits if they choose not to socialize in this way, and where they will not feel a lot of peer pressure to drink?

[Anonymous]

How many kids were there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Where do the nice kids who don't drink and don't go to these parties go to school? This is not meant to be a snarky question. If drinking is ubiquitous at many private and public social events, as the above posters suggest, I want to know where I can send my kids where they will not feel like social misfits if they choose not to socialize in this way, and where they will not feel a lot of peer pressure to drink?

Madeira - strong disciplinary rules

[Anonymous]

21:07 - I assure you there were plenty of nice kids at the Landon dance who weren't drinking. This was a change in pace from the usual dinners out, movies, heading to Bethesda, bowling and hanging out with friends. It was an unfortunate turn of events, but I think if we all look back on our own teen years, we will remember learning from being at events such as this one.

[Anonymous]

Wow - I can't help but wonder about some of these posters - is HS drinking really that shocking? Did you even go to HS? You can't control the masses, and if you start trying to control every situation your child encounters, that's sure to backfire too. Know your kids and talk to them.
Teach them about judgment and consequences - and - seriously folks -we are not talking drug dealing or crack - this is HS 101 and the "drinkers" should not be treated like lepers (and shame on those trying to get scoop on where the kids go to school etc.) Guess what - nice kids drink and make mistakes. Leave the discipline up to the parents and the schools - and have a heart - some day the tables may turn.

[Anonymous]

Well put, PP.

[Anonymous]

Some of us didn't drink in hs.

[Anonymous]

"It's just drinking -- not drugs!" is a really bad attitude for the parents of teens. Both activities illegal at this age. And alcohol is just as likely (probably more, statistically speaking) to prove fatal. Here we had kids drinking so much they had to be hospitalized. So much for the harmlessness of the activity. And that's before we get to drinking and driving.

And leaving the consequences to parents whose attitude is "Hey, it's normal. All kids drink. It's not a big deal. And these are nice kids." is a pretty scary proposition. Geez, it's not as if a lynch mob is gathering to seek its own brand of justice. People are expressing their opinions re whether this situation is or should be considered normal/acceptable or whether it's a cause for concern.

[Anonymous]

It was a bad scene and Landon hosted a very unwise event. My kids go to HS dances--this was not a normal dance. Normal doesn't involve the police and the hospital for a couple of guests. Normal doesn't involve breath tests at the door. Perhaps my parameters are too tight...

[Anonymous]

I agree with 22:36.

While ambulances and police at high school dances are not the norm, it is naive to think that teenagers in any school or setting aren't going to want to experiment - with alcohol, drugs, sec, whatever. It is our jobs to prepare them on the judgment side to be able to handle these social pressures, not turn a blind eye to suggest it doesn't happen.

I would guess that the kids in question thought it would be cool to drink alcohol and now they have learned an important lesson that they will be dealing with for the months to come. Thank goodness no one outside of the experiment was hurt (ie drunk driving etc), but come on, this happens in in virtually any school setting anywhere.

[Anonymous]

It's not a matter of pretending it doesn't happen. It's a matter of drawing lines and saying get yourself out of any situation that looks like this ASAP -- it's fucked up and you don't want to be a part of it. Regardless of whether the other kids (or their parents) think it's harmless and everybody does it. Or perhaps *especially* when the other kids/parents insist it's not a problem.