PD*Poll: Did one school's DWI program goes too far?

by Bethany Sanders (Subscribe to Bethany Sanders's posts) Jun 14th 2008 4:00PM

Categories: Teens & tweens, Health & Safety, Alcohol & Drugs, Education

Administrators and teachers at a California high school recently announced to their students that several teens had been killed in car wrecks over the weekend. It was devastating news that traumatized students, many of whom had lost good friends.

The problem? It was a big, fat lie.

Administrators came up with the program to discourage teens from drinking and driving.. The plan was to tell students about the accidents in the morning, then reveal the hoax at an assembly in the afternoon.
Only some students became so upset (and rightfully so), that teachers had to tell them immediately that there was no accident. So for the entire day, rumors were spreading that it was true/wasn't true, and many students didn't really understand until the missing students arrived back at class.

Some students are protesting the schools actions, saying they feel betrayed and that the school played with their emotions. Administrators are adamant, however, that the program was meant to save lives, not to traumatize the children.

I have to wonder, however, if the roles were reversed if school administrators would feel the same way. Imagine if you worked in a large corporation and the CEO came in and told you that several co-workers had died in [name your traumatic even here] over the weekend, then revealed hours later that it was just a hoax to encourage workplace safety. You can bet there would be be some litigation going on for emotional trauma.

What do you think? Did the school go to far? Or are there no limits on what should be done to protect teens from their own actions?

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Comments (18)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Jennifer 6-14-2008 @ 4:15PM

When I first heard about this story my stomach just dropped. A couple of years after I graduated high school a young lady I went to high school with passed away from injuries sustained in a drunk driving accident. The accident occured shortly before she was going to graduate and she died the day after graduation. Her older brother was a friend of mine and he accepted her diploma for her (she would have graduated even if she had failed all of her exams.) We were a very small school (250ish students) in a town with a population of 3,500. The shock and horror we as a town went through is something I would not wish on anyone. That these administrators took it upon themselves to subject these students to even a few hours, heck even minutes, is absolutely inexcusible. If I had a child attending this school there would be h*ll to pay.

Michele W 6-14-2008 @ 5:51PM

I think it was a bit harsh what they did to those students. I will never forget the feeling and the exact time and day I got a phone call telling me that my cousin who was my best friend and like a sister to me was killed by a drunk driver. I never hurt so bad in my life so far. She was only 28 and just had gotten pregnant after years of dealing with endometriosis. She was planning the birth of her first child and a wedding to the greatest person she ever met and it was taken away from her from a person that was 3 times the legal limit in Arizona and 5:45 in the morning. Even though it is a very serious thing that the kids need to address I dont think saying the kids were killed was the right thing to do. Maybe to say they got hurt but dead no. I think an even better way to go about it to kids in high school is have people who belong to madd and other organizations come talk to the kids and tell them their story and some pictures of the wrecked cars. I think this would be a very idea that would help people understand a lot. I would be very upset about this.

Angela 6-14-2008 @ 6:05PM

Our high school did this for years, and every year we still had kids who drove after drinking and got into terrible accidents. I will say, that although the program is sad, it's also very eye opening and I am sure that some lives were saved by it. My parents never complained - and I don't think that any others did either, they understood the importance of having such programs.

Lindsey 6-14-2008 @ 7:41PM

We had a similar program at my high school after one of our classmates was killed by a drunk driver. It was a week long program where mock accidents were created, and certain students were removed from classes by grim reapers. The week ended with a mock funeral assembly where the parents provided eulogies for their children.

To say the least, it was an incredibly powerful program that touched every student very deeply. While it was a costly program to put on, and more so than the 'program' discussed here, I think it was worth every penny. We were all very shocked by the simulation, but in a healthier way than this suggests.

Bethany Sanders 6-14-2008 @ 7:52PM

Lindsey,

That sounds MUCH healthier and less traumatic than the program mentioned in the post!

Thanks for commenting.

rachel 6-14-2008 @ 10:33PM

My high school did it this way too. During the week before Prom "grim reapers" would remove student volunteers from class, they would be outfitted with a sign proclaiming that they had either been killed by a drunk driver or been a drunk driver them selves, their faces were painted white and they had a black tear on their cheek. They weren't supposed to talk for the remainder of the day. In addition to this a totaled car was always borrowed from a junk yard and sat in front of the school- a reminder of the damage that can be caused by drunk driving. It was a fairly thought provoking way to handle things, versus the traumatic route this school chose.

Heidi 6-15-2008 @ 9:22AM

I agree. The approach your school used is far better and will be remembered. the high school in our town uses a similar approach every year. But they stage an accident and show rescue crews, body removal, jaws of life etc. with student volunteers

sweetchuckd 6-14-2008 @ 9:47PM

This story was even featured on http://detentionslip.org! It was coted the #1 source for crazy education news.

ninainindia 6-14-2008 @ 11:13PM

I don't think it was too bad, and certainly don't believe children were traumatized by it. They were told immediately after, if they had followed the original plan that would have been worse.

Jennifer 6-14-2008 @ 11:26PM

They were told immediately afterwards because of the depth of their reactions. They were immediatly traummatized and so the teachers opted to change the plan not the administrators who came up with the idea. Have you ever been told a close friend was killed? How did you react? Trust me when I say that it is not something you forget easily just because someone says "oh, by the way, it was a lie used to teach you a lesson."

Ericka Morgan 6-17-2008 @ 8:45PM

Can anyone really think that this LIE was "not too bad"???????????? There is one huge difference between this and the "scared straight" programs where a costumed grim reaper comes to a classroom and takes out a student. In the grim reaper scenario, everyone knows it is a dramatization!!!!!!!!! In this instance, the school administration and staff lied to students who, because they were under the age of 18, are technically children. Those teachers and administrators destroyed the trust their students placed in them. Far from being an effective program, I feel it was CRIMINAL. Twenty years after my high school graduation, I still get upset when I remember the girls who wrecked when they left the same party I had just attended-one of whom sustained traumatic brain injury. I am now a parent and a teacher, and I must say that if my son's school attacked him and his friends in this way, I would be tempted to file a lawsuit!!!!!!

Carolyn 6-15-2008 @ 2:38AM

That's horrible, and I do think it would be traumatizing. A girl I knew as a teenager was killed in a drunk driving accident and to this day I remember the exact details of how and when I was told about it. I agree with Jennifer, the fact that the kids learned afterwards that it was not real doesn't erase that awful moment when you hear that someone you care about is gone forever. And maybe that's the point the teachers were trying to make, but there's got to be a better way to do it.

Carolyn
http://www.momsontheedge.ca

Jan Bay 6-15-2008 @ 9:20AM

I wonder why they made the decision to use such unsettling methods?

I remember some time ago that there was a program where teens caught with alcohol or drugs were taken for a visit to see inmates in prisons and the findings were that those teens who involved in the program had a higher rate of arrest than other teens. Was it the desensitization that did it? Or was it because they were already dabbling?

When I was a senior one of our friends was killed and he wasn't drunk and I can remember the teachers holding that poor boy up as an example of what could happen. Plus the boy that died had a younger brother still in school. That had to have been awful on him. I don't think it kept anybody from drinking and made the students angry to boot.

I know that something needs to be done about teen drug and alcohol abuse, but if the teachers approach the subject in the wrong way it could have the opposite effect.

Jan from http://www.unique-baby-gear-ideas.com/

Linda 6-17-2008 @ 11:54PM

I think that this was necessary. The school admin did admit there were somethings that needed to be worked out for the future. My HS does a mock accident, and the kids in the school look at is as time out of class. I feel that this really showed the students what it would be like if something really did happen, and probably opened their eyes a little. I do recall one student saying just that.."it was shocking... but if it saves one life then it was worth it." Teens these days take driving for granted, and as a joke. I had a classmate die in an accident (not drunk driving related) but just a day out with his friends 2 weeks before his 16th birthday. They were goofing around and the car got wrapped around a tree. It opened the eyes of my class and his sister's (they were a year ahead of us). If alcohol was invovled we probably would have lost all 4 instead of just 1. I wish this was done in a smaller school, where it would have had more of an impact. It's not something to joke about, and I believe these kids, although upset now, will realize the importance of this lesson.

Sherri 6-18-2008 @ 12:50AM

I first heard about this on FOX News and couldn't believe what I was hearing. I have a 16 yr. old daughter and asked her how she would feel if this had happened at her school. She said she would have been devestated and probably somewhat emotionally scarred. If this had happened to my son (who is only 10 right now), but suffers from anxiety and emotional problems more than likely would be destroyed the moment he got the news and maybe never consoled. In my opinion, the school administration went about this all the wrong way.

IHeartDogs 6-27-2008 @ 11:55AM

I'm a teenager, and this story made me so mad. My friends are so important to me that I would have burst out crying if this had happened to me. When I found out that this was a lie, I would probably not go to that school anymore. I would not let that school receive money for me after putting me through the pain and humiliation. This is just the type of thing that could cause violence at schools.

Jennipher 6-18-2008 @ 1:24AM

My school has done this for a very long time. It's called 'Shattered Dreams'. I think it was like a day before prom and they would be taken out of class and re-enacted a drunk driving crash scene. They would take the whole school out...or at least part of it...to see the accident while some of the 'victims' were taken in stretchers and the drunk driver was arrested and taken to jail. It's just something to help students understand the concept of drunk driving. It is pretty horrible and sad...but important for people to understand. The parents would also get advised that their child had 'died' in an accident. Emotional. I don't think this school really deserves any special treatment or apology..... it happens at plenty of other schools...and for a good reason.

Ashley 7-01-2008 @ 10:02PM

I know exactly how they felt, my friend passed away in a motorcycle accident a couple days after prom. This was totally wrong they could have done a skit or somthing instead. There was no need or excuse to fake a person's death to all of there friends. This was flat out wrong.

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