Published: May 29, 2008 12:20 am      

NORTH TONAWANDA: Prom incident draws attention

North Tonawanda High School Principal Jim Fisher isn’t proud of students who got busted for drinking in Chautauqua Gorge State Park on prom night.

While he is taking a closer look at the future planning of prom weekend as a whole, he said figures obtained from police detail the individuals involved and indicate only a weak link between prom attendees and individuals cited for, among other things, underage drinking in the park the same night.

“I don’t think there’s an automatic and direct link to the prom,” he said.

Figures he obtained from law enforcement officials reveal 40 citations written for 28 individuals at the party, for offenses in addition to or other than underage drinking. Of that number, he said, eight are students currently enrolled at North Tonawanda high.

Fisher said only two of the eight traveled to the party after attending the prom.

Roughly 100 people were reportedly gathered at the park throughout the night and into the next day, and school officials say they believe other students from the high school and possibly a number of former students were likely involved, but not cited by police.

It has been reported that 10 individuals were initially cited for failure to obtain a group camping permit on the night of May 16, and made to dump out a large quantity of beer. Officials were then forced to return to the scene, and the arrests were made.

When state troopers and forest rangers busted the party, students and school officials were forced to confront some difficult questions.

Some parents noted the glassware given to students at the prom — beer mugs and Champagne flutes — as inappropriate.

That issue was raised a couple of years ago, Fisher said, in meetings with a PTA-style group called the Parent Partnership. He said the results of that discussion were that the glassware did not constitute promotion of drinking by the school.

“I felt it was important to get a community sense and that’s where we brought it,” he said. “The students know fully that the school does not condone the consumption of alcohol.”

Still, the issue has been raised more than once by parents.

NT schools Superintendent Vincent Vecchiarella agreed with Fisher about the party favors. He said one student was kicked out of the dance for possessing a “water bottle” that, it was decided, had been used to hold an alcoholic beverage.

He said it was the only such incident in an otherwise controlled event.

North Tonawanda Athletic Director Greg Witman said none of the eight North Tonawanda students arrested were high school athletes.

Witman has served as athletic director since January, and said that, beginning next fall, he will hold a meeting to discuss issues like underage drinking with members of the school’s various athletic teams.

“We just plan on telling them to be responsible and make wise decisions — there are a lot of do’s and don’ts that get involved with that,” Witman said.

Vecchiarella said parents of North Tonawanda High School students he has spoken with talk of a roughly 40-year tradition of day picnics to celebrate graduation in North Tonawanda, and that in the past 20-or-so years, students have created a “culture” of overnight camping trips.

This is the second year in a row rangers at Chautauqua Gorge say they were left with the burden of cleaning a campground littered with the remains of booze-fueled revelry by underage kids following the North Tonawanda Senior Prom.

“There are a number of factors — school-age students are certainly the responsibility of the school and the community. We cannot supervise students 24-7,” he said. “Suppose kids in the community decide to go camping this week. To draw that comparison, that it is part of a school-endorsed activity — it’s not.”

Contact reporter Neale Gulleyat 693-1000, ext. 114.