14 are banned from graduation ceremonies

Fourteen high school seniors will be collecting their diplomas from the district office this week after being barred from participating in last week's graduations.

Fourteen seniors, 13 from Newbury Park High School and one from Thousand Oaks High School, were suspended for five days after testing positive for alcohol at the NPHS prom, which took place on June 5.

The kids weren't allowed to enter prom, and during their suspension the seniors also missed out on many activities, including grad night, and the final five days of high school. When the buses arrived at the Skirball Cultural Center June 5 for the prom, the buses were searched.

"I think what raised the principal's eyebrow was that when the bus pulled up, it smelled," said Patricia Garofalo, whose daughter Lauren was suspended. "Supposedly a couple juniors had lit up some weed, so when they pulled up the bus smelled like pot."

School officials say they found an empty bottle of champagne as well as cups with traces of alcohol. The students were all tested for alcohol, according Jeff Davis, director of secondary education for Conejo Valley Unified School District.

However, parents like Anita Hubbard say the process was unfair. According to their students, some kids evaded the test or were given preferential treatment because of their participation in sports or their part in the commencement ceremony.

"There's always a group of kids targeted by the administration, and I don't know why it was them," Hubbard said of her daughter Danielle and her friends. "They are targeted for making stupid choices in the past or for whatever reasons."

Davis said every bus was checked by Skirball security, and evidence of alcohol was only found in one.

"This group can feel they were targeted, but every single bus was checked, and this was the only one that smelled like marijuana and had empty cups and an empty bottle of alcohol on it," Davis said.

Hubbard said her daughter's friends are good kids. Most are A students, and some have been close since first grade.

"The whole idea behind these laws is to keep kids safe," Davis said. "It's an unfortunate situation. This is a good group of kids who made poor choices and a group of parents who made poor choices, too."

Hubbard said about 30 kids gathered with their families before prom and had a champagne toast for a photo. Patricia Garofalo said she feels guilty because she allowed her daughter Lauren to take part in the toast.

"I feel it was my fault," Garofalo said. "I said it was okay. I didn't think anything of it. But because of that, my daughter did break her senior contract."

The contract, which all seniors sign, confirms a zerotolerance policy when it comes to alcohol consumption during school activities.

"It is zero tolerance; we know that," Garofalo said. "I guess there is a lesson to be learned by everyone here. My concern is that they weren't tested fairly, and they were discriminated against. We are being told that the machine wasn't accurate and that there was favoritism."

Garofalo said her daughter partook only in the champagne toast. She was Breathalyzed and blew a 0.05, which would be legally acceptable for a 21-year-old driver. According to parents, some kids blew as little as a 0.03.

Davis said that, according to the Ventura County Sheriff's Department, a 0.001 is indicative of alcohol consumption.

"These kids blew way above that," Davis said. "It's pretty hard to believe that this is all based on one Dixie cup-sized amount of champagne."

He also said all of the students admitted to consuming alcohol, the champagne toast at the very least.

"They knew their contract, they knew prom rules and had been in high school for four years," Davis said. "Each of those years the deans talked to them about how there's no alcohol, drugs or weapons on campus or at extracurriculur activities. I don't know what part of that did not sink in.

"To be honest, even if parents were saying, 'C'mon, take this, it's just a toast, don't worry,' you would think one of the kids would say, 'Whoa, we can't do this.' I'm just shocked and disappointed."

But the parents maintain that the testing wasn't done fairly.

"One kid said it was chaos, that kids were jumping out of the line and another ran for the hills," Garofalo said.

Hubbard heard the same thing from her daughter.

"The kids had a drink—they toasted—and that was wrong," Hubbard said. "But the administrators ignored the rest of the student body. Kids were stumbling into prom, falling over. They were high on Ecstasy, coke, marijuana.

"We're not so much upset about it because we know the kids broke the rule," she added. "It's the way the school handled this. It's been dealt with very poorly."

Hubbard also said there were issues with the Breathalyzer. Many kids had to blow into it several times, and false numbers were written down. The most serious accusation from parents is that they're positive that not all the students were tested, which is being contested by NPHS principal Athol Wong.

"She's assured me that every student on that bus was tested," Davis said.

Davis said 35 Breathalyzer tips (the part the student's blew into), were collected, indicating all the students were tested. If they blew more than once, the same tip was used.

"I wasn't there," Davis said. "I can only go off the evidence I have. I'm going off all the information from the administrators, teachers and Skirball security. I can't surmise anything else."

Parents have said that kids have come forward admitting they were drinking, yet the Breathalyzer registered no alcohol content so they were allowed in.

"They were very selective about who they tested and who got in trouble, and that's why we're angry," Hubbard said. "I think Dr. Davis is really astonished at what he's hearing. To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if Mrs. Wong doesn't have a job tomorrow. It was really, really poorly handled. She's being vindictive. She's not being an administrator, and that's a problem."

But Davis rebuffed the comments about Wong.

"No one wanted this to happen," Davis said. "Mrs. Wong didn't hope to go to prom and catch people. They were hoping everything went perfect."

And after a day and a half of meetings with the parents of every senior suspended, Davis decided to uphold the suspensions.

"Hopefully this will be motivation for these students to go to take part in their college graduation ceremony and read contracts next time they have to sign one and really understand the rules of a corporation when they get jobs," Davis said. "Hopefully something positive will come of this in their futures."

Parents were upset with the news.

"Alcohol definitely sucks, and this was a mistake on the parents' parts also," Garofalo said. "But my daughter has worked very hard for four years, for her whole life, to get to this point. This is too harsh. Missing their prom was devastating. This is no way to start off their first big accomplishment in life."