By Scott Brinton
It was well after 2 a.m., and kids were starting to throw up. One girl couldn't stop vomiting. Some at the post-prom party last June considered taking her to the hospital, but they didn't. The revelry continued until late the next afternoon, with alcohol consumed hard and fast.
Christine was at the party that night. She was two days away from graduating from South Side High School in Rockville Centre, near the top of her class, and she wanted to have a good time. Christine and 29 of her friends each paid $100 -- $3,000 in all -- to rent a house in Quoge and partake in a night of heavy drinking.
The group hired a luxury bus to take them from Rockville Centre to the party house in Suffolk County. One of the teenagers bought the alcohol -- Christine isn't sure how -- and delivered it to the home beforehand.
There were many experienced drinkers in the group, but several hadn't drunk previously. "Prom night turned out to be a big mess," said Christine, who didn't drink that night. "A lot of my friends ended up drinking way past their limits and getting extremely sick."
Many Long Island teenagers like Christine end their high school careers with the prom, followed by a big, alcohol-soaked party at a rented house, in a hotel room or at a friend's home, say students and experts.
For many graduates, the prom has lost much of its importance as a rite of passage. The real anticipation among many seniors builds toward the post-prom party, where booze and perhaps drugs flow freely and sex is common, many times with parental consent.
Barry Wilansky is executive director of Tempo Group, a substance-abuse clinic with offices in North Merrick and Woodmere. He said the prom is like many other American celebrations. Alcohol is now seen as a necessary ingredient to have fun.
"There's a fundamental ambivalence about" alcohol, said Wilansky. "We learn it as a beverage and a socially accepted experience, and we can't see it in its other form -- as a dangerous, toxic substance."
subhead: How schools combat prom-night drinking
Nationally, schools are taking more stringent measures to eliminate drinking at proms, in part because of the enormous liability questions it raises for them. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, a group of Pennsylvania schools recently tried to require each student to pass a Breathalyzer test to get into the prom.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court, however, ruled that giving the test to every student, without probable cause, would be an unwarranted invasion of privacy. So the schools now administer Breathalyzers to students who appear to be drunk.
Lynbrook High School holds a class meeting right before graduation, in which they address the issue of drinking and the prom. "We tell the students that absolutely no illegal substances are allowed, ever," said Lynbrook Principal Santo Barbarino. "The prom is a school event, and they are required to abide by the rules and regulations."
Lynbrook parents are sent a letter detailing expectations regarding their children's behavior on prom night. Parents are strongly advised to stay home that night in case there is a need for the school to contact them.
East Rockaway High School is aggressive with underage drinking as it relates to the junior/senior prom. A written contract must be signed by every student attending as well as their dates, and parents must sign as well, in addition to providing telephone numbers where they can be reached. The contract states in part:
"Any student who comes to the prom under the influence of alcohol ... or has possession of such ... will not be permitted to stay and his/her parent will be called to pick the student up. Student seniors will not be permitted to participate in graduation exercises and underclassmen will be subject to suspension of all extracurricular ... activites for the 2004-05 year."
Extreme? The school administration doesn't think so. "It's another way to create awareness on the students' part, let them know we have this concern and that we care," said high school principal William Fortgang.
Megan Kelly is a 17-year-old East Rockaway High senior who has to sign the contract if she wants to attend the prom. "I don't mind," she said. "I don't have a problem following the rules. Making us sign the contract does work to scare some people into making sure they don't drink and get in trouble."
Kelly's friend and fellow senior, Joanne Mueller, and their boyfriends are among a group of about 35 students who chipped in and rented a bus to take them to and from the prom. "Some kids might think it's annoying, but the school is doing it for our own good and our safety," said Mueller. "It's not a problem for me -- I don't need to drink to have fun."
The contract, mandated by the district about five years ago, also includes a plea to parents who host pre-prom parties not to provide alcohol. Nancy Barbaro and her husband, Joseph, will be having a pre-prom party at their home this year for their graduating daughter, Nicole, and her classmates. "We'll be serving bottled water, soda, cheese and crackers, and no alcohol," said Nancy. "The kids are underage; they're here to take pictures and have a good time. This is the way it is, and they have to listen."
Fortgang said that the district continues to entertain ideas for pre-prom and after-prom activites that will further ensure the safety of the students and curtail their opportunities to drink that night. "Last year, as we were leaving our prom [at the Bridegview Yacht Club in Island Park], Oceanside High School was arriving for their after-prom party," said Fortgang. "We thought it was a great idea, and we are looking into the possibility of having something like that."
Lynbrook High School students have support from their village, which works to keep them occupied by fun, not alcohol. There is a pre-prom party downtown. Atlantic Avenue is closed, and prom guests are dropped off by their limousines, enter the street through an arch and stroll along the avenue while merchants treat them to appetizers and non-alcoholic beverages.
"The celebration the village hosts for the students helps to eliminate those pre-prom parties at individual homes that we may be concerned about," said Barbarino.
sub-head: After the party's over
With schools so strict at the prom, students' focus has increasingly turned to the post-prom party as a time to drink. To combat the problem, many high schools require students to be at graduation rehearsal early on the morning after the prom. If seniors don't show up, they don't graduate with their class. The hope is that students will abstain from drinking to make sure they're at rehearsal.
Lynbrook High takes the idea a step further. Several years ago the administration and the PTA decided to move the actual graduation ceremony to the day after the prom. "We did this to minimize weekend excursions," said Barbarino. "To have a major ceremony the very next day is a challenge, but it's the right thing to do."
Some schools make the prom an all-night affair. Hewlett High is among a handful of South Shore schools that sponsor alcohol-free post-prom parties. Hewlett calls it Senior Night, and the PTA, which sponsors the event, plans for it a year in advance.
The party is held on the high school's athletic fields from 3 a.m. to 7 a.m. Seniors aren't required to be there, but they are expected to be. Attendance is taken at 3:30 a.m.
There's much to draw Hewlett students to Senior Night. There are carnival games and food -- lots of it -- all free. And raffle prizes, like stereos, portable CD players and gift certificates to Five Towns shops and restaurants, are given away hourly.
Dr. Joyce Bisso, Hewlett's principal, said, "The parents work so hard the entire year to give the students a memorable night, so it is a sign of disrespect not to attend."
Kelly and Mueller wish their school had an after-prom carnival like some of the neighboring districts. "I think it serves as a good motivation not to drink that night," said Mueller. "It seems like a lot of kids don't think they can have fun unless they are drinking."
Still, drinking goes on that night. Jason Chung, a 2003 Hewlett graduate who now attends Nassau Community College, said the high school's post-prom party helps control drinking, but it doesn't eliminate it. "It still happens, but you only get to do it for a couple of hours, which kind of ruins it," he said.
subhed: The role parents play
Believing they can't stop their kids from drinking on prom night, many parents host their own post-prom parties, and serve alcohol. At least, the parents say, they know where their kids are and that they won't get hurt.
Serving alcohol to a minor other than your own child, however, is against the law, said Detective Sgt. Anthony Repalone of the Nassau County Police Department. A parent who is caught giving minors alcohol can be charged with endangering the welfare of a child, a Class A misdemeanor. That's true even if the high school senior is age 18.
A Class A misdemeanor is punishable by up to a year in jail. If a student gets hurt at the party, or is injured or killed while driving drunk after it, the parent host can also be sued in civil court.
The danger with such parties is that parents may know their own children are safe, but they don't see what happens to the other young guests after they leave, said Denna Cohen, president of the Long Island chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Many kids drink at other parties or drive drunk.
"Are you going to guarantee that a child is not going to get up and walk out with the keys" to his or her car? "You can't guarantee that," said Cohen, whose daughter was killed by a drunk driver at age 21.
Across the nation, some states are having so much trouble with parent-sponsored alcohol parties that they're passing laws specifically prohibiting them. Kansas and New Hampshire, as well as towns in California and Connecticut, have enacted laws banning parent-hosted house parties, according to the Kansas City Star and the Associated Press.
Parents who violate the laws -- which were put in place this year -- can be fined from $200 in Kansas to $1,000 in California to $1,500 in Connecticut, and face jail sentences of six to 18 months.
Beyond the dangers, allowing teenagers to drink sends the wrong message to young people, Cohen said. When parents sponsor alcohol parties, she said, they're "teaching their kids to drink. You can't do that."
Regardless of what actions school districts take to ensure that drinking will not be on the menu for those attending the prom, there are still those students who will not be swayed by efforts to exclude alcohol from their celebrations. "I may have a drink before I leave for the prom, said a senior named Michael. "I didn't drink last year, but this year I might. Why not? I'm not going to be driving."
One Lynbrook High School 2003 graduate who declined to be identified said that to drink or not to drink was his decision. "If you're old enough to die for your country, then why not be able to buy and drink alcohol?" he said.
ITAL Reporting by Brinton, Karenlyn Barone, Andrew Coen, Hector Flores and Angela Marshall. UNITAL
