For most of the Sadie Hawkins Dance attendees, the time between 9:15 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. was spent dancing.
However, for one group of 28, that time was spent locked in the gym hallway, being questioned about alleged illegal substances on their party bus. Of the group, one student was found to be under the influence and has been suspended for 10 days.
Before all school dances, Sadie’s included, school administrators make repeated announcements warning students against being under the influence at a school-sponsored function, of bringing illegal substances to the function. The consequences, should students disobey, are clearly outlined in the Student Handbook.
A small group of students within the larger group detained for questioning did not heed the caution, and brought illegal substances onto their party bus, which took them to the dance.
According to sources at the scene, a flask, a Gatorade bottle, and a fifth all filled with alcohol, plus a small amount of marijuana was allegedly found by the bus driver, on the bus.
It all began with a search some say may not have been warranted.
“[The driver] took us to dinner. Everything was fine, our dinner was great. After dinner, I noticed that the driver took one of the girls outside to have a private conversation,” senior Kathy Dean* said. “He said that he found illegal stuff on the bus. He had gone through our bags. He said that he’s calling the company to find out what the protocol is in situations like this.”
A Highlander review of the Entertainment Express party bus contract shows the agreement clearly prohibits the consumption of alcoholic beverages by persons under the age 21. It also states the bus driver has the authority to end the ride if passengers break any of the bus’ rules.
However, less clear is the company’s right to perform a preemptive search of passengers’ property, without their knowledge, permission or probable cause.
Entertainment Express refused comment about the night’s events when contacted by Highlander reporters.
“Everyone is really confused as to whether or not he was allowed to go through our stuff,” Dean said.
After the results of the search were revealed to the students, the group members waited uneasily as the bus driver, who has been identified as ‘Mike T’, received word from Entertainment Express.
“He gave us two options. We could have either canceled the bus right then and there and got taken back home,” Dean said. “Or we could just go to the dance. We decided to go to the dance.”
The group got to the dance a few minutes past the time the doors closed around 9:05 pm. After a brief stay on the dance floor, the group made the decision to leave shortly after arriving.
“There was no one really there that we knew, it was pretty much just freshmen and sophomores,” Dean said. “So when we got there we made the call to go back on the bus and have fun with our friends.”
One group member was more blunt about the state of the dance.
“It was lame,” senior Kyle Smith* said.
However, the group was met with a surprise when they tried to exit the gym hallway doors. Instead of seeing their party bus waiting for them, they were met with the sight of the bus driver conversing with Assistant Principal Deb Boyer in front of the doors.
“What the driver told us was that he had found some illegal substances on the bus,” Boyer said, “that he had confiscated those, and had brought the students here, because he didn’t want any use to be going on.”
At least one student in the group said the bus driver did not act honestly when he alerted the administration about the substances he had confiscated.
“The bus driver did not at all give us any indication that he would tell the assistant principals [about the alcohol] when we got to the dance,” Smith said. “If anything, he gave us indication that he wasn’t going to do anything else.”
The students in the group were held at the school so that school administrators could sort things out.
“By the time we’d finished the conversation with the bus driver, that entire group was on their way back out again,” Boyer said.
After the group was all together, the administration began to take account for everyone in the group.
“What we decided to do was to take the precaution of getting everybody’s IDs,” Boyer said. “And making contact with everybody’s parents to come pick them up.”
During this process, it was discovered that one member of the group was under the influence.
“The student received the normal board of education policy application that we would give to any other student,” Boyer said.
Before students could leave, their bags and purses were searched by school administrators.
“We had to go on the bus individually, get our stuff, and then they would search our stuff,” Smith said. “Then we could leave.”
At least one of detained students applauded the administrators’ actions.
“As far as the assistant principals, I feel like they were right to search the bus,” Smith said. “I mean, obviously some people did stuff wrong, so we needed to make sure everyone was going to be safe.”
At least one parent was concerned their student – who was not in possession of anything illegal that night – would be guilty by association.
“My mom was worried that I was going to get in trouble, because more than 90% of the kids there hadn’t done anything wrong the entire night, and were just in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Smith said. “She was more worried that I was going to get in trouble for the actions of a few. She talked to the assistant principals about making sure that no one that didn’t do anything wrong was going to get in trouble.”
After being held and investigated by the school, students were dismissed home with their parents.
“We got to leave the school at about 10:30,” said Dean. “We were stuck for over an hour.”
Monday, administrators decided not to attempt to identify who the students were who had drugs and alcohol on the bus.
“We decided when we got together with Mr. Piper on Monday that what we would do, even though we know that there were some students that had stuff there that didn’t suffer a consequence,” Boyer said. “We also decided not to put the rest of the students in a position of helping us determine ‘who did what’. In other words, we didn’t go on a ‘which hunt’.”
*Editor Note: Names of some of the students have been withheld to protect their identity
