To All Parents/Guardians of Park Ridge High School Students:
The upcoming senior prom and graduation are times of celebration and accomplishment. Unfortunately, these celebrations are often accompanied by parties with excessive drinking and drug use. It is our desire to work together with parents and students to ensure a safe and memorable experience for all.
Please remember that any student who arrives at a school event under the influence, or if drinking or drug use occurs during any scheduled school activity, a parent will be required to pick up their child from the event and transport them to a hospital or other medical facility for a full medical evaluation. Parents can play their part by actively supervising children, both prior to and following these events. The overwhelming majority of drinking and drug use occurs following the prom and graduation, yet pre-event parties—hosted in homes where parents are present—have become another opportunity for teenagers to drink.
Occasionally, parents may give tacit or explicit approval for underage students to consume alcohol. Please remember that it is illegal to drink until the age of 21. We remind all parents that the dangers of teenage drinking can be profound. Deaths resulting from automobile crashes and overdoses are two of the most common causes of death among teenagers. The non-fatal consequences of underage drinking and drug use can also be significant. The legal and emotional costs of accidents, sexual harassment/abuse, and DWI convictions and other arrests, can remain with students and their families indefinitely.
Host parents face significant legal and civil liability for permitting drinking in the home. This liability also extends to the homeowner who is absent and a drinking party is held.
Your children want to travel away the weekend after the prom to hotels, homes, resorts, mountains, and the shore. We have heard from many parents who say they wish their child was not going, but allow them to join their friends in these very risky, unsupervised places. We encourage all parents to work together and provide a clear, consistent message to all students: these high-risk behaviors are inappropriate, illegal, and unacceptable. Prom- and graduation-related celebrations should be monitored and any activity that can not be actively supervised should be prohibited.
We want all of our students to be safe, happy, and secure. Please help us to achieve this goal.
Sincerely yours,
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