I think having beer at around kids is bad enough, but in the car? What kind of messege does that send to students. They don't know who was drinking but they would know that one of those adults would be driving, wouldn't they think it was ok to drink and drive?

I would think your district would have policies about such things. If not, for the safety of the children I would rally for one.

I think it is ironic that it was also "Red Ribbon Week."

NO WAY should beer or any other alcohol be allowed on campus, much less at a school sponsored event. I would be very upset if the happened at our school I cannot imagine anyone thinking that beer is okay at a school function.

Wow! I sit in awe. I shake my head in concern. I’m disheartened with the trends I see. What kind of message does it send to our children when we have a tailgate party with alcohol in the parking lot of our schools? Why do we resort to gambling for fundraisers? I can’t believe that these are the types of activities parents would condone in our schools. The behavior of our children is caught not taught. When we tell them one thing and live something different, who is at fault? Not our teachers! It starts at home and is then reinforced in our schools. Obviously I’m old fashioned and a bit stubborn therefore, I refuse to buy in to the philosophy that “everybody else is doing it so it must be OK!” Our children are going to inherit this country. Shouldn’t we be teaching and modeling strong moral principals and values? Or will we continue to teach them to surrender to the ill-gotten pressures of society?

As far as school policy; I would think that would be obvious good sense. Aren’t schools and their perimeters considered Drug Free Zones? What about municipal open container ordinances? What about the possibility of MIP or contributing? I can’t imagine that the insurance carrier for the school or the district administration would be in favor of such an event. It might be wise for organizers of an event that allows alcohol consumption to be cautious for personal liability concerns.

We don't have a policy on this, but I wouldn't feel comfortable about having alcohol served at a family night. An "adults only" function is one thing, but this is different. You might also want to check on what your insurance policy says about liquor liability coverage.

The fact that you left out of this post, but you put in the other post about this in a different area, was that your flyer for this event specifically said "no alcohol allowed." Given that--if I got a flyer that said no alcohol was allowed, and for whatever reason, I don't want my kids exposed to adults drinking alcohol, I would probably have a fit as well.

If you know and expect that people are going to bring alcohol, why put "no alcohol allowed" on the flyer? I think that's very misleading. You need to have a way of enforcing it if you're going to put that restriction out there.

If you're not willing or able to enforce it, leave it off the flyer, or don't hold the event in the future.

From what I know we had over 500 people there, and approx. 90% of people did have beer there.

I would also say it was innapropriate for those adults to have beer there, but the people having the fits should take issue with the folks who brought the beer with them and not the PTO. Unless you were telling people to bring it then they can't hold you responsible for someone having it in their car.