# School Officials Punish Student For Driving Drunk Friend Home **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 15, 2013, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-officials-punish-student-for-driving-drunk-friend-home/671309 "2013-10-15T14:52:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2013, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-officials-punish-student-for-driving-drunk-friend-home/671309/41 "2013-10-18T20:21:19Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > IMHO they shouldn’t have _any_ control whatsoever over students who aren’t either; one school property, at a school related event, or using school resources. _In loco parentis_ should not apply 24/7 (except of course at boarding schools). Everything else is a matter for parents and/or civil authorities, not the school. And naturally _private_ schools should be able to impose whatever restrictive rules they want (assuming of course they aren’t receiving any taxpayer $$$). Right. The parents and the law govern kids outside of school time. Drunk at school or school event? School issue. Drunk at your own house? Parental issue. Drunk elsewhere? Police issue (or maybe just parental depending on the situation) Not drunk, but helping a drunk friend get home safely? Not an issue ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2013, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-officials-punish-student-for-driving-drunk-friend-home/671309/42 "2013-10-18T20:41:33Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > I remember as a kid that there was a school assembly (you know, where everyone is herded into an auditorium or gym to listen to the principal yap) where one of the staff casually handed a box to one of the kids and asked the box to be passed across the row of seats. After the box had traveled some distance, it was announced that the kids ought to have opened the box to check for drugs first, since if there had been drugs, good faith was no defense and you would receive an automatic and mandatory punishment that was quite severe. Seems you would have been guilty of _distribution_ under school policy, since distribution did not require any minimum volume of drugs, any minimum number of recipients, or any sort of expectation of payment. Simply handing one pill to a friend made you a Drug Dealer. The penalty for distribution was more severe than just bare possession, you were talking about immediate suspension probably leading to year or more in a Reform School for kids with disciplinary problems if you didn’t get flat out expelled. This was around 1995 in Virginia. Please, _please_ tell me that some student took advantage of this to pass out papers in class, because “The teacher might have soaked the paper in LSD!” or something like that. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2013, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-officials-punish-student-for-driving-drunk-friend-home/671309/43 "2013-10-18T20:47:51Z")
The outrage is over the fact she HADN’T been drinking. She was doing the responsible thing of driving her drunk friend home, instead of letting her drive. In the process she allowed herself (shockingly) to be around drunk people! The school being dickwads over it is one thing, but no organization that claims to be against drunk driving can disagree with what she did. She could have stayed home, not got suspended, and her friend could have plowed head-on into a young family. This, according to MADD, would have been the right thing to do. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2013, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-officials-punish-student-for-driving-drunk-friend-home/671309/44 "2013-10-19T01:54:15Z")
> [@BrickaBracka](#): > > As for “hoss”, I interpreted your post as stating something authoritatively for which there is little actual substantiated fact. In my part of the world, that presentation is generally rebuffed in such a manner. Forgive me for reading into your post a sentiment which wasn’t there, and for assuming that something as stupid as charging someone for a crime they factually didn’t commit couldn’t possibly occur in our society. Holy crap, **Bricka** , the mods banned you for mouthing off at me!? Sorry, dude, I dint report ya. ---
**Author:** ![JackieLikesVariety](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackielikesvariety/32/296_2.png) [@JackieLikesVariety](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JackieLikesVariety)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2013, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-officials-punish-student-for-driving-drunk-friend-home/671309/45 "2013-10-19T01:57:21Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > They’re a bunch of prohibitionist wackos who are completely full of shit these days, and have abandoned their original mission. Fuck those guys. when did this happen? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2013, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-officials-punish-student-for-driving-drunk-friend-home/671309/46 "2013-10-19T02:11:07Z")
[Moderating] I’ve merged the two threads on this subject into one. [/Moderating] ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2013, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-officials-punish-student-for-driving-drunk-friend-home/671309/47 "2013-10-19T02:25:12Z")
My belief is that the guiding principle of MADD and similar organizations is that they figure if they punish all the other kids hard enough they’ll eliminate any chance that their own Precious Angel will ever get drunk or use drugs or have premarital sex. Of course, if Precious Angel slips up and does get caught breaking the rules, Momma Bear will do a 180 and insist that there’s no reason the police need to get involved and what Precious Angel needs is compassion, a second chance, and an expunged record. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2013, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-officials-punish-student-for-driving-drunk-friend-home/671309/48 "2013-10-19T02:41:07Z")
> [@Richard\_Parker](#): > > > [@kayaker](#): > > > > My daughter was stopped by police. She blew 0.0%, but **was cited for disorderly conduct when she refused to tell who was at the party**. I hired a lawyer and got the charge dismissed, but the judge told us that she could be charged with an alcohol offense by simply being present, _even if she left the moment she became aware of the presence of alcohol_. > > If the judge said that, then he’s an idiot or he was just trying to convince her to avoid parties. . (bolding mine) ISTM that judge may have been trying to impress **kayaker** to the effect of: _“I hope when you go home today you tell your kid to next time rat out everyone, and make it easy on herself.”_ > [@alphaboi867](#): > > > [@Rhiannon8404](#): > > > > …Of course this whole thing brings into consideration, how much control over our children’s lives should the school system have? This didn’t happen on school property or during school hours. The student was cleared by the police as not breaking the law. Why was the school even involved? > > IMHO they shouldn’t have _any_ control whatsoever over students who aren’t either; one school property, at a school related event, or using school resources. _In loco parentis_ should not apply 24/7 (except of course at boarding schools). Everything else is a matter for parents and/or civil authorities, not the school. In this case, apparently it’s that the rule _for participating in extracurriculars_ includes some sort of general “never allow even the slightest reason for the words ‘NAHS Team Member Cited’ to be printed anywhere” clause. There seems to be a sort of combination of two practices at work here. One: that apparently the rule in this jurisdiction for this kind of situation is that EVERYONE inside the property limits gets on the spot a \*citation \*for underage drinking, and let the court sort them out later when the police who were actually on the scene present their evidence and testimony. And two: that the school’s ZT policy apparently says zero tolerance for any sort of known connection between you and underage drinking, and once there’s such a citation, that is enough and dismissal of proceedings, even based on actual police testimony that you were not involved, is no excuse. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2013, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-officials-punish-student-for-driving-drunk-friend-home/671309/49 "2013-10-19T03:05:01Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > I can’t believe the reporter didn’t ask the lawyer to articulate just what this “stand” is. Lemonade stand? ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2013, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-officials-punish-student-for-driving-drunk-friend-home/671309/50 "2013-10-19T03:20:41Z")
(On the MADD turning neo-prohibitionist issue) > [@JackieLikesVariety](#): > > when did this happen? 😕 After the succesful campaign to establish regular carding, the 21 y/o drinking age in all the states and DC, and make BAC \> .08 a per se offense, they feel there has to be e still _something more_ to do, as they feel they are not yet even close to the point of diminishing returns (and even then many would embrace the “if it even saves just one life” attitude). But in reality almost since the start their position when you bother to dig in has been that there is really no such thing as a “safe” BAC (and young people are notoriously bad at staying on the safe side of thresholds anyway), but that they’d settle for intermediate steps as the political climate allows. And there’s the moralistic side that a small amount of a _Bad Thing_ is still a _Bad Thing_, people do not have the right to do a _Bad Thing_… … ergo it should be eventually made impossible for people to do _Bad Things_. ---
**Author:** ![Punoqllads](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d2c977/32.png) [@Punoqllads](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Punoqllads)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2013, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-officials-punish-student-for-driving-drunk-friend-home/671309/51 "2013-10-19T03:24:49Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Holy crap, **Bricka** , the mods banned you for mouthing off at me!? Sorry, dude, I dint report ya. Probably not banned due to that. Poster has only been around for a week, no obvious meltdown anywhere. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2013, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-officials-punish-student-for-driving-drunk-friend-home/671309/52 "2013-10-19T09:15:03Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > (And there’s the moralistic side that a small amount of a _Bad Thing_ is still a _Bad Thing_, Ah, yes. Homeopathic morality. ---
**Author:** ![Glazer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a88e57/32.png) [@Glazer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glazer)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2013, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-officials-punish-student-for-driving-drunk-friend-home/671309/53 "2013-10-19T09:41:05Z")
Being suspended from the volleyball team and losing her captaincy is a big thing for an honor roll student. It hurts her chances for getting into a good school. The difference between Harvard and State U. can change the course of her life. Not saying that she was necessarily going that route. But it would be good reason not to just take her lumps because the school has abdicated judgement to blind policy. ---
**Author:** ![Debaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3da27b/32.png) [@Debaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Debaser)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2013, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-officials-punish-student-for-driving-drunk-friend-home/671309/54 "2013-10-19T09:42:20Z")
> [@Rhiannon8404](#): > > Not ruined, but certainly damaged. I would absolutely stand up for my child who did nothing wrong, yet was being punished and publicly humiliated. Her life was damaged? Really? By not playing five volleyball games? How was she publicly humiliated? There were a bunch of kids at the party. Where they all publicly humiliated, however you are defining it? ---
**Author:** ![Debaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3da27b/32.png) [@Debaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Debaser)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2013, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-officials-punish-student-for-driving-drunk-friend-home/671309/55 "2013-10-19T09:44:55Z")
> [@Critical1](#): > > Turn this around and apply it to yourself, You get busted for something you didn’t do, have to go through forced public humiliation for something you didn’t do, and you are punished for something you didn’t do. > [@Rhiannon8404](#): > > I would absolutely stand up for my child who did nothing wrong, yet was being punished and publicly humiliated. > [@Punoqllads](#): > > Not just did nothing wrong. She was actively trying to do the right thing by picking up her friend rather than passing the buck. She did do something wrong. She’s under 21 and was at a party where alcohol was being served. ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2013, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-officials-punish-student-for-driving-drunk-friend-home/671309/56 "2013-10-19T09:46:55Z")
> [@Debaser](#): > > Her life was damaged? Really? By not playing five volleyball games? Yeah. People look at this kind of thing when you’re going for major schools. ---
**Author:** ![Debaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3da27b/32.png) [@Debaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Debaser)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2013, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-officials-punish-student-for-driving-drunk-friend-home/671309/57 "2013-10-19T09:59:20Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#): > > Yeah. People look at this kind of thing when you’re going for major schools. How would the schools know about it? Because of the suspension from the team somehow being on her record? Or from the court summons? ---
**Author:** ![Debaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3da27b/32.png) [@Debaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Debaser)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2013, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-officials-punish-student-for-driving-drunk-friend-home/671309/58 "2013-10-19T10:00:20Z")
> [@Debaser](#): > > Where they all publicly humiliated, however you are defining it? Were they all. _hangs head in shame_ Hey, it’s early. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2013, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-officials-punish-student-for-driving-drunk-friend-home/671309/59 "2013-10-19T10:30:45Z")
> [@Debaser](#): > > She did do something wrong. > > She’s under 21 and was at a party where alcohol was being served. Depends on your definition of wrong. I don’t think she did anything wrong, she was doing something right. Very right. Extremely right. The only wrong thing she could have done is tell her friend he was on his own. In terms of damaging her future, the publicity around this is likely to be a positive, she at least has an explanation for the suspension that makes her appear to be a responsible person, and not some lout. The risk is that she doesn’t get to the explanation stage. ---
**Author:** ![Debaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3da27b/32.png) [@Debaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Debaser)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2013, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-officials-punish-student-for-driving-drunk-friend-home/671309/60 "2013-10-19T10:51:34Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > The only wrong thing she could have done is tell her friend he was on his own. Agreed. That would have been more wrong. But why couldn’t she just have picked her friend up at the curb? There’s an excluded middle here. The choice isn’t between what she did and nothing. She could have helped her friend without being inside the party. > [@](#): > > In terms of damaging her future, the publicity around this is likely to be a positive, she at least has an explanation for the suspension that makes her appear to be a responsible person, and not some lout. The risk is that she doesn’t get to the explanation stage. Agreed. The publicity around this will be a positive for her. As to the other kids at the party, I’d be very surprised if this impacts their future at all. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-officials-punish-student-for-driving-drunk-friend-home/671309.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/school-officials-punish-student-for-driving-drunk-friend-home/671309.md?page=4)