Beer can spotted near students at HS football game — and school officials' reaction is dropping jaws

Let's say you're the parent of a high school student and your kid exits the house on a Friday night, meets up with friends, and they all sit in the stands at their school's football game.

So far, nothing particularly out of the ordinary, right?

But then you get a phone call.

Seems your child was one of 75 students plucked from the bleachers after a beer fell or was tossed in front of school personnel keeping an eye on the student section. And then you're informed you have to get your kid screened for alcohol within two hours — and failure to comply will result in a positive test result and a five-day suspension.

While that might seem like a far-fetched scenario, that's exactly what happened just before the season-opening kickoff Sept. 1 at New Jersey's Randolph High School, the Daily Record reported.

Students were sequestered in classrooms, the paper said, and some parents called it a chaotic scene.

But one beer can wasn't the end of the story.

"Upon further investigation, several other containers of alcohol were identified," Superintendent Jennifer A. Fano wrote in a statement on the district website. "There were also other indicia that the students in this section had consumed alcohol. As educators, we are charged with enforcing policy. The law requires that we send students out to be tested when it appears that they may be under the influence of drugs or alcohol."

Fano said in a follow-up statement Wednesday that the student section smelled strongly of alcohol, several students were visibly intoxicated and officials got hold of social media photos and videos that showed students consuming alcohol at a house party before the game.

But that part didn't sit well with some observers.

"Sadly, some of the student body marred the evening by attending the game under the influence of alcohol," school board candidate Christopher C. Treston wrote on Facebook, the paper said. "At least a few smuggled alcohol into the game itself. ... The safety of our students and the community is indeed paramount, and action by the school administration was absolutely warranted. However, the action taken at this event was disproportionate and exposed some serious gaps in district procedures."

The Daily Record said Class of 2018 President Nate Pangaro posted the following on Facebook: "Before the game could begin, an administrator went to the front and told everyone to be quiet. He announced that he found an opened beer can on the ground that rolled to him, and that someone should confess to [whose] it was before everyone was taken in for a breathalyzer test. No one confessed, so people went into the school each row at a time to be tested."

Treston added on his campaign Facebook page that students "proceeded to emergency rooms in Dover, Denville, Morristown and Livingston. The emergency departments at Dover and at Morristown were not given any warning of what was coming, and were overwhelmed."

Based on discussions with others, Treston told the paper that fewer than five students of the 75 rounded up tested positively for alcohol.

Sheryll Lynne Penney, a former Randolph PTO president and mother of a 2017 Randolph High graduate, told the Daily Record that she heard from several confused and angry parents who said their constitutional rights — and their children's rights — were violated.

"The students sign a code of conduct and they need to be held accountable," Penney added to the paper, "but so does the administration for handling the situation professionally."

(H/T: EAGNews)