Police gave as many as 35 students citations for alcohol possession and consumption at an unsupervised party in the Carderock neighborhood Dec. 10, Montgomery County Police said.
Students identified as having received citations will not be able to participate in some extracurricular activities between now and winter break, principal Alan Goodwin said. Goodwin said he is relying on word-of-mouth and students’ confessions to identify students who were cited.
Students involved in multiple extracurricular activities will only be punished in one activity. Goodwin said he is working with club and team sponsors to determine appropriate punishments on a case-by-case basis. For example, students on sports teams will most likely miss the next two games, Goodwin said.
“Although this party was not on school time, we have a policy at Whitman that students who are cited at parties suffer a consequence at school, especially if they are somehow representatives of Whitman,” Goodwin wrote in a letter to students sent home yesterday.
These consequences have been in place for several years, but administrators often don’t find out about students who have received citations since the police doesn’t forward that information to principals, Goodwin said.
Goodwin admits that he won’t be able to punish all the students who drank at the party since many didn’t receive citations.
“If they ran away and they weren’t cited, then what can I do with that?” Goodwin said. “There’s going to be some people that are sitting comfortably, as they’re getting away with it.”
Goodwin spoke to the leadership class and expressed his disappointment at how the school was represented.
“We do understand the gravity of the situation,” senior Abhi Setlur said. “We’re going to take it as it comes.”
Students who receive a citation for their first underage drinking offense must pay up to $500 in fines, according to Maryland law. The parents of the party host don’t face fines because they were not home and were unaware of the party.
Assistant principal Jerome Easton made an announcement yesterday discouraging students from attending unsupervised parties.
“I have seen numerous examples of students having fun this year without drinking, from Battle of the Classes to athletic events, to musical and dramatic performances, to just sitting in the halls talking to each other,” Goodwin wrote in the letter. “Please find ways to have safe fun.”
BOB FRANK • Apr 18, 2012 at 7:17 am
calm down
Daniel Fitterman • Dec 20, 2011 at 9:00 am
Edit because I know someone is gonna call me on this.
I spelled school wrong.
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Daniel Fitterman • Dec 20, 2011 at 8:59 am
First time I’m not the once whining about what the B&W publishes! But I don’t get why the shool feels the need to get involved unless one of those sports contract good student thingys was signed beforehand. Do those really exist btw?
Sincerely, A Girl • Dec 19, 2011 at 2:09 pm
Also point! As this comes out, more names will come out, and they will be able to recieve just punishment
Sincerely, A Girl • Dec 19, 2011 at 2:02 pm
Well Cammy, this is actually more of s sufficient punishment in my opinion. Think about what kids respond to, face it not so much the adults.Its a shame because we have that kind of naieve sense that we are in an escnce indestructible. Think about the countless times youve told your parents you wouldnt know about it. While you may disagree with me, the idea is that we dont respond to adults as much as we should. Its only untill students actually suffer consequences, not just a sermon, taht we respond. Its cruel but true, thats just the way it is we cant change that. Sooooooooooooooooo, informing the school does actually open peoples eyes. We respond more to becoming social outcasts then we do helpful adults (yes just as sad as it sounds) so the media frenzy (at least for something local like this) is helpful in some aspects. Social humilation, has the unfortuante power to scare us enough never to do it again. This is sad thing, but unfortuanetly the way it is. Ask anyone who was at that party whether they would rather lose their populatrity and become a sociall outcast, or get a sermon from a principal, I think we know what the answer is. We knoew that Whitman isnt perfect. And also Spiderman has a good point (Yes! Ive always wanted to say errr write that) Also a message to school helps the parents keep notified about this. Parents need to inform their kids to make sure that they are safe. This message helps parents who didnt even know about this party. I mean I can almost predict that most of the parents didnt even know this party exsisted untill the notification was sent. And come on the message was not that bad. Your just blowing it out of context its just a gentle reminder to parents to speak to kids about the dangers of alchool use and drug use. Now tell me, whats the bad in that?
Cameron Frank • Dec 16, 2011 at 7:20 am
@Danny McClanhan(1st comment): Alright, now that I have calmed down, I can (maybe) counter your points logically. I do agree that it is very important to address this situation, considering how derimental alchol is on the mortal coil, but personally, I do not believe that is an excuse to interrupt the entire school with an message that this event has “soiled Whittman’s reputation.” That is what infuriated me. A newsletter? Fine. A article on this site? Fine. But an announcement throughout the entire school claiming that this event is (this is an inference, but it is the message I got) destroying at least a piece of Whittman’s reputation? That is taking it too far. I really want this event to drop, now, and while I understand I am drawing attention to it by these comments, I feel like I need to get this message across.
PS: Drug use? I doubt it. They are called rumors for a reason.
PS2: As my first two comments were simply rants, feel free to delete them, as I know not how.
Anon • Dec 15, 2011 at 11:10 pm
Unconstitutional kids. Its unconstitutional for a principal to punish a student for an off-campus citation. No different than the principal punishing you for getting a speeding ticket.
pam lever • Dec 15, 2011 at 2:33 pm
I believe the students at the party must have known about the alcohol there, and went anyways. Most of them probably went because of it, bingeing on a saturday is what all the kids do these days.
Spider-Man • Dec 15, 2011 at 12:53 pm
I think it’s good that this article was made public-it sets a precedent for the younger kids. It’s important for them to know that this type of behavior has its consequences.
Cameron Frank • Dec 15, 2011 at 12:15 pm
All I want is for this event to not spread like the last scandal, as I truly believe if it does, everyone in Whitman will be miserable. I understand I went overboard, and I did not understand the situation, but I just do not want another inane scandal “plaging” Whitman.
Anon • Dec 15, 2011 at 10:17 am
I support the newspaper’s right to publish such a story. But on the other hand its none of the school’s business to be involved in off-campus activities that have absolutely nothing to do with Whitman. Someday a parent will sue the school board and a court will rule in favor of the student.
Write it down.
Danny McClanahan • Dec 15, 2011 at 8:58 am
I think my IQ dropped a few points reading that. Besides the other myriad logical fallacies, Crest’s point completely invalidates the whole “humiliation” argument.
Cameron Frank • Dec 15, 2011 at 7:21 am
@Anonymous: I completely agree, I was just bringing up an example about how poorly Whittman takes mistakes their students make. Plus, most of the students got the pictures without their knowledge yet they still got humiliated, and I do not want this to turn out in the same manner. This needs to be dropped NOW.
@Crest: I do not care about how public they made the party, it should still not spread like cancer in Whittman. Whittman’s fear of maintaining their “reputation” is humiliating the students responsable, even if they did deserve it, and saying, “Whittman students should NOT make mistakes, because if you do, we will humiliate you in front of the entire school and make the situation MUCH worse than it needs to be. HURRRR.” Whittman is to blame for the accenuation of this “crime,” and I will not be suprised if it goes public on a news station or some other humilating event. I hate schools who believe themselves to have perfect students, then humiliate the ones who are not. Sure, this needed to be addressed, but it certainly did not deserve to be where it is now. The “reputation” of Whittman is only in shambles because of Whittman itself.
Danny McClanahan • Dec 15, 2011 at 7:19 am
Cameron Frank, you have made my day. Thank you.
Please elaborate on how anyone is actually “humiliated” when no one involved is named, in either the letter or this article. And then consider the alternative of not saying anything, acting like a drunken party (at which I’ve heard rumors that there was also other drug use) is a totally acceptable practice. Which is idiotic, and not the message the school wants to send, at all.
Crest • Dec 15, 2011 at 12:13 am
@ Anon Y. Mus: Are you kidding me? This party was all that ANYBODY could talk about since Saturday. Its obviously a prevalent issue in the community. Plus, this article reveals far less than the hundreds of tweets, texts, photos, and facebook statuses posted that night by kids at the party. If they wanted it to be their business only, they certainly didn’t go about it very well…
Anonymous • Dec 14, 2011 at 7:24 pm
First off, to “Anon”, when something like this happens it is always reported on. It is something that students at the school are talking about, and members of the community are talking about. It’s the Black and White’s responsibility to report on something like this.
Cameron Frank: This is an ENTIRELY different situation than the sexting scandal. In this case the administration is dealing with a very normal high school issue, giving the punishments they promised, and moving on. The sexting scandal deserved the attention it gained because it was NOT normal or in any way acceptable (whereas, what percentage of high schoolers drink alcohol?)
Everyone, just hop off.
Anon Y. Mus • Dec 14, 2011 at 12:59 pm
This is not a school related issue and I fee that it is not the responsibility of the SCHOOL newspaper to report about this. I believe that what students do in their free time is their business ONLY! The black and white has dipped into something that they shouldn’t have and I, for one, do not believe it is right!!! >:(
Cameron Frank • Dec 14, 2011 at 12:37 pm
This infuriates me. After the whole sex scandal, everyone who even had the pictures were publically humiliated and bashed, even if they had nothing to do with it,(I know some deserved it, but only some) with claims that they were, “ruining Whittman’s ‘sacred’ reputation.” Principals making speeches, administrators claiming Whittman had been ruined by their student body, and overall, it was just an humiliating experience for the students. If this scandal results in the same outcomes, I will be absolutely livid. Whittman, just like all other schools, makes mistakes, and I am certain that a few of the kids have learned their lesson, I hope. Making it public to this degree only serves to accenuate the “detrimental” effects that this has had on “THE BEST SCHOOL EVAR.” Please, Whittman, do NOT drag this out. Just give the kids punishments, let it be known to the school and drop it from there. I do not want to go to a school that is arrogant and demening to their students, and I certainly will not commit the same “crimes” as the unfortunate 35. Perhaps they do deserve their punishments, but they certainly do not deserve to be humiliated to this scale. Feel free to prove me wrong though.
student • Dec 13, 2011 at 9:22 pm
i understand the problem, and it needs to be addressed… but the school newsletter makes people think the whole school was involved, it was a select few who chose inappropriate behavior and misrepresented our school. that is just my opinion…
Anon • Dec 13, 2011 at 4:59 pm
Who would do such a thing?