No School Penalties for Drinking Party Juveniles

It has been school as usual for the Barrington juveniles arrested for an underage drinking party on Jan. 20 at a vacant Elm Lane home.

The dozen or so juveniles suffered no sanctions from the high school because the police cannot release their names to school officials, according to the Providence Journal.

The students continued with their usual school sports and extracurricular activities even though the student activities handbook says: “If a student attends a party where alcohol or drugs are being illegally dispensed, the student must leave the party immediately.”

Violating the alcohol and drugs policy means a suspension for a first offense for 15 calendar days and the next major event; a second offense means suspension for a whole year, according to the handbook.

The students were charged in Family Court with vandalism, trespassing, and alcohol possession. But their names were sealed under state law. So they could not be penalized by the school.

Other sources said that several members of one team that competed in the Rhode Island Interscholastic League playoffs over the past couple of months attended the Elm Lane party.

Barrington Police Chief John M. LaCross said in the Journal story that if the police were allowed to share with the School Department the names of juvenile suspects, "I'm sure students in the future would think twice about some of the choices they make."