breathalizing high school students

[eowyngirl14]

At my school before any school dance they are breathalizing every single student to see if we have been involved in underage drinking. they are testing each and every student before we are allowed in.
in my opinion this is a violation of my constitutional right to privacy and the American belief that people are innocent until proven guilty.
breathalizing us on the way in doesnt make any sense anyway. they (the shcool board) claim they are breathalizing us because they dont want us driving under influence, well then turning us away at the door to find our own ride home doesnt seem like the best way to go. they should test us all on the way out if they are going to.
i have no problem with being breathalized if i was showing signs of intoxication because that would be probable cause and it would give them a reason to breathalize me.
but i refuse to have my right to privacy stripped from me, so i am now boy cotting all school dances.

are other high schools taking similar actions to try to stop underage drinking? anyone have any views on this topic?

[Ruinel]

First, if you are under 18, you have limited constitutional rights. The courts have ruled that in schools, the school board and the principal have the right to sensor school newspapers and restrict your rights in other respects (such as dress, metal detectors, searching lockers, etc.).

Second, most of the students who drink, don't go to the school dances anyway (at least at my old school they didn't)... so they're just doing it for show, or they're completely clueless.

Third, boycotting school dances will only work if a large number of students are in with you. Otherwise, your stance will not get you what you want. I'm not even sure the result would be to eliminate breathalizers at dances. Most likely, it will only eliminate the dances.

Was there an incident that caused the board to react this way?

[eowyngirl14]

a girl came drunk to a dance once and they sent her home and suspended her from school for a WEEK. two girls got in a fight last week and were like beating each other up and they were only suspended for 2 days, so this seems like unfair punishment to me. so now they think we are all drunks. and ya you are right most ppl just stay home and drinkand dont bother going to the bloody dances, but it ruins them for all us people who do want to go.
and i kow that kids in schools arent entitled to all constitutional rights, but the dances are funded by this other program and held in a temple (we have a big school, that why) so accept for the fact that u need a school ID to get in, its not even really a school dance. and outside of school it doesnt matter that im only 15 i still have my right to privacy. a couple towns over the tried to breathalize everyone but then only 16 freshman showed up at the dance, so they god rid of that policy. unfortunetly at my school only a handfull of us actually care.
cause my school is full of idiots, who thin kanyone boycotting the dance must want to go drunk when really its the exact opposite.
if i wanted to show up drunk than i would just be proving their policy right. and i think even school students have teh right to privacy of our bodies! meaning they cant breathailze us without our consent. so im not giving mine and am having a party instead.
but it still bothers me because if they do this now, then in a few years everyone is gunna have to pee in a cup and get tested for drugs! and if u ask me drug usage should a bigger deal because it is illegal no matter how old you are. whereas as soon as we turn 21 we are free to drink whever we want.

[Ruinel]

If the girls fighting was their first offense... then 2 days is probably appropriate. If it wasn't... I agree with you that it was unfair.

I'm confused as to why a public school dance is being held at a religous temple.

Your idea of having a party on the night of the dance is great. I hope a lot of students get the drift and your boycot works.

[Radagast]

Honest men have nothing to fear from the police.

[The Gaffer]

Except the police themselves.

Governments and organisations are in an ongoing battle to erode individual rights, and this is one of them. You shouldn't have to take breath tests unless a police officer has reason to believe that you are committing some sort of offence under the influence.

My advice is to hit 'em where it hurts. Boycott the dances and all other school fundraising events.

[Hemel]

Honest men have nothing to fear from the police.

Presumably you're not a motorist, then?


And with regard to the school issue - my little cousin has had her bag searched several times by the school for drugs. With no cause, may I add, for them to suspect her for having them. I think that's a gross invasion of her privacy.

[Fenir_LacDanan]

Originally posted by The Gaffer
Except the police themselves.

We got busted drinking under age about six years ago know, and the bloody Peelers took all the grog and drank it themselves. We were only 15, and getting whisky was damn hard.

And in my experience of police on two continents, the police themselves tend to be the biggest bloody alcos, anyway.

[Ruinel]

Originally posted by Fenir_LacDanan
...And in my experience of police on two continents, the police themselves tend to be the biggest bloody alcos, anyway.

That's gotta be true in any country... my uncle, a cop, drank himself to death.

[Fenir_LacDanan]

Originally posted by Ruinel
That's gotta be true in any country... my uncle, a cop, drank himself to death.

While I don't know about your uncle, but...

Most cops are from Irish decent, and we Fenians love a pindle of old seamus' black morass.

lets see americans decihper that cockney phrase....

[eowyngirl14]

And with regard to the school issue - my little cousin has had her bag searched several times by the school for drugs. With no cause, may I add, for them to suspect her for having them. I think that's a gross invasion of her privacy.

on the first day of my camp last year it was rumored that they were going to check everyones bags so my and my friends all took like a gazillion tampons and just stuck them EVERYWHERE in our bags. in our pencil cases, our purses, our makeup cases, and just scattered them everywhere in our bags. unfortunetly they never actually checked them, cause i think it would have been really funny.

[Janny]

Ah poor Radagast, classically educated, trying to hold his high amid the barrage of 'save our civil rights'!
As Ruinel said, they have the right, as you are under sixteen, to attempt to prevent you to get smashed out of your underage faces.
I'm sorry, I don't accept the 'errosion of civil liberties'. I'm not for stupidly stringent searches by police either, but Radagast is right. The innocent man has nothing to fear.

[eowyngirl14]

Police have nothing to fear from innocent people!!!

they have no right to breathalize me if i show no signs of intoxication. thats an invasion of my privacy garunteed by the constitution.

if they take away this right, what next? the government is already trying to make it legal to listen in on phone calls.
are they goign to take away free speech? free press?

[Radagast]

Originally posted by eowyngirl14
Police have nothing to fear from innocent people!!!

they have no right to breathalize me if i show no signs of intoxication. thats an invasion of my privacy garunteed by the constitution.

if they take away this right, what next? the government is already trying to make it legal to listen in on phone calls.
are they goign to take away free speech? free press?

This is a quick breathalization at a high school dance, let's not go nuts here with your apocalyptic vision of events!

[Janny]

Yup, kudos Radagast. Little perspective here, it's not the thin end of an wedge. I suspect we may be living under different constitutions too. Surely it's for your benefit that drunkard won't be ruining your evening anyway?
And police have the right to know whch innocent people they need not fear.

[eowyngirl14]

i think they should only breathalize those who are acting drunk or are like drinking out of water bottle they brought into the dance, why make the rest of us do it? its a waste of time frankly, and its not right.
the last dance we had there were only 2 people who were over the lega limit, they breathalized them when they saw reason too. AKA one girl threw up, and the other was dancing really obviously drunkenly. this is fine with me because the had probable cause to breathalize them, but should htey have stopped the dance to breathalize the rest of us? no! so they shouldnt do it now. tonight actually, is the dance, by twin sister just left for it.

[Janny]

Then Cinderella you will be late!
(They are breathalising at the beginning right?... I mean I just have images of teachers in black balaclavers and cat suits jumping out from behind wallflowers to breathalise people as they dance the slow romantic dances... I'm sorry, it's my problem.)

[eowyngirl14]

haha, i was just imagining my principle in avat suit... hahaha

okay, at this dance they are doing it at the beggining but at others they just pulled people aside you were 'acting drunk' and breathalized them. half the people they suspected werent even drinking at all.

[Radagast]

And the other half? Better to catch 'em, don't you agree?

[Millane]

our ****ed up school thinks that they can stop people from drinking AFTER a school event regardless of the fact that a lot of people are 18 (legal drinking age in aust), i think thats utter bullshit. Last year at the formal (or whatever it was, im not quite sure) students and there parents had to sign a form saying they would go straight home after the formal and not go to any parties or drink any alcohol, and they gave this big speech at school about how if they heard there were going to be any parties they would cancel the formal immediately... i had no intention of going to the *****y school occasion anyway so the answer was simple, get trashed and go to all the after parties and see if the school had anything to say about it, the majority of the people who drank after it had to go talk to the headmaster but they couldnt do anything to us deadshits
eowyngirl14 drink up