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High school will buy more Breathalyzers to cut
lines at dances
Dec 4, 2005
The alcohol-detection powers of Ridgefield High School�s
administration are being doubled.
A $3,000 purchase of six more
alco-sensors � often called Breathalyzers, reflecting a brand name �
was authorized by the school board last week.
The purchase will
double the number of detection devices the administration has to put
students� breath to the test as they enter school
dances.
�Apparently there are some very long lines getting into
the dance,� said School Business Manager Jo-Ann Keating when asked
the reason for the purchase.
The lines of student waiting to get
into the dances have become longer as the school�s population has
grown. There were 1,300 students at a recent dance, she
said.
�They do check every one individually,� said Maureen
Kozlark, a school board member who has a daughter at the high school
and a son that graduated two years ago.
The cost of the purchase
� $3,084 � was financed through a transfer from the equipment repair
account to the equipment purchase account, within the school�s
technology budget. The board approved the purchase when it voted to
accept the financial report at its Nov. 28 meeting.
Ellis initiative
In the
late 1990�s, then principal Dr. Joseph Ellis began the
practice.
The initiative was inspired by indignant complaints
from administrators and faculty who worked as chaperons after one
dance when the student drunkenness was more out of hand than had
been usual. Soon, students entering a dance at the high school were
submitting to breath tests performed on the same machines used by
police.
�There was a very bad experience with either a
�homecoming� or a �moondance� where there were so many students that
were intoxicated that they had to start breathalyzing them when they
came into the dance,� Ms. Kozlark recalled after the board
meeting.
While there was some reaction among students at the time
the practice started, since then the program has generally been
accepted as the way things are.
�It�s accepted and it�s
successful in keeping students sober for the dances,� Ms. Kozlark
said. �It�s the parents� responsibility to make sure the students
stay sober for the rest of the night � that�s how I feel.�
Other
than grumbling about the lines, there�s been little talk about the
practice, she said.
�The only thing I heard was that the line was
really long and that it took a while to get into the dance,� she
said. �...There�s always a line to get into the dance.�
She
added, �I�ve never heard a complaint about it. I�ve never heard
anything negative about it, which is unusual.�
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