The party bus bust at the Sadie Hawkins dance last weekend involved questionable decision making on the part of many-- including the adults.
Students are well aware of the fact that engaging in illegal activities involves a certain amount of risk, but what is truly unfair is that the poor decisions of a few had a negative impact on the night for many.
It is understandable that the students feel that their privacy was violated, considering nowhere in the contract is there a statement that allows a driver to search the possessions of those on board.
The driver, after finding substances, led the students to believe that they would not be in trouble if they didn’t use the illegal substances, but then proceeded to turn the students in to the administration behind, what student’s said were their backs.
Many of the students were not pleased with the sudden change in approach. Still, we have to wonder what should he have done? As far as we can see it he had five options:
1. Go to the dance, drop them off and not say anything, and let the evening continue as is.
2. Stop the bus upon finding the materials and demand parents retrieve their passengers from the restaurant.
3. Play defacto school bus driver and drop everyone off at their houses.
4. Turn a blind eye, stay away from the dance and drive around for a few hours.
5. Or do what he did.
At least two of the above options (1 and 5) are legally questionable, and could place both the company and driver in hot water. The other three would cause the derision of parents to varying degrees.
In other words, what choice did he really have?
It’s disappointing that the entire group had to deal with the aftermath of the bust instead of the few in possession of the illegal substances.
Those students and their parents were forced to spend their Saturday night in a hallway as the administration searched the students’ possessions.
We’re not blind to the students’ complaints regarding the search, but we also feel that the students who were in possession of alcohol and drugs should be held accountable for their actions.
It’s understandable parents were worried about whether or not their child was going to get in trouble, however, we’re surprised there hasn’t been more vocal disapproval of the decision making that lead to the incident.
Perhaps this night will serve as a wakeup call.
Then again, maybe it won’t.
After the incident, most students involved continued with their night as if nothing happened.
We can only hope the students whose parents let them get away with this escapade will not have to end up doing something similar again, because their actions were played off as ‘no big deal’. But odds are they will.
Of course, the responsibility really lies with the students, since the whole problem was started by the underage possession of alcohol and the possession of illegal substances--on board a moving vehicle, no less. Had the small number of students within the larger group simply followed the law, this whole situation could have been avoided entirely.
A word of caution to those planning on going to a dance on a party bus: think twice about who you plan on riding with, as the consequences of their actions could easily become yours.
