ACOT Message Board

 Ran across this on MSN...Thoughts????

Link... http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25123570


Actual Story...

Calif. school defends DWI shock tactics
Students were told classmates had died in car wrecks — they hadn't

OCEANSIDE, Calif. - On a Monday morning last month, highway patrol officers visited 20 classrooms at El Camino High School to announce some horrible news: Several students had been killed in car wrecks over the weekend.

Classmates wept. Some became hysterical.

A few hours and many tears later, though, the pain turned to fury when the teenagers learned that it was all a hoax — a scared-straight exercise designed by school officials to dramatize the consequences of drinking and driving.


As seniors prepare for graduation parties Friday, school officials in the largely prosperous San Diego suburb are defending themselves against allegations they went too far.

At school assemblies, some students held up posters that read: "Death is real. Don't play with our emotions."

'They got the shock they wanted'
Michelle de Gracia, 16, was in physics class when an officer announced that her missing classmate David, a popular basketball player, had died instantly after being rear-ended by a drunken driver. She said she felt nauseated but was too stunned to cry.

"They got the shock they wanted," she said.

Some of her classmates became extremely upset, prompting the teacher to tell them immediately it was all staged.

"People started yelling at the teacher," she said. "It was pretty hectic."

Others, including many who heard the news of the 26 deaths between classes, were left in the dark until the missing students reappeared hours later.

"You feel betrayed by your teachers and administrators, these people you trust," said 15-year-old Carolyn Magos. "But then I felt selfish for feeling that way, because, I mean, if it saves one life, it's worth it."

'We wanted them to be traumatized'
Officials at the 3,100-student school officials defended the program.

"They were traumatized, but we wanted them to be traumatized," said guidance counselor Lori Tauber, who helped organize the shocking exercise and got dozens of students to participate. "That's how they get the message."

The plan was to tell the truth to the students at an assembly later in the day. But word that it was all a hoax began to spread before the gathering. Tauber said some counselors and administrators revealed the truth to calm some students who had become upset.

Oceanside Schools Superintendent Larry Perondi said he fielded only a few calls from parents, while the PTA chapter said it had not heard any complaints. Perondi said the program would be revised, but he would not say how. And he said he was glad that students seemed to have gotten the message.

"We did this in earnest," he said. "This was not done to be a prankster."

 Its harsh. But I think its a good idea.

 What a way to get their attention!  I think to avoid legal issues/angry parents, they probably should have had the parents sign something saying it was okay for their child to participate/be tricked like that.  Those parents who didn't want their children involved should have a say.  Then, those kids could've been called to the office, or something, and waited in another room while it was going on.  I also think that they should've been told shortly afterwards that it wasn't real, and there should've been a discussion on how they felt at the moment.  Something to make the lesson really sink in.

Drinking and driving is a big problem for teens, especially with graduation and prom season.  I would hate to lose one of our students because of it.  Several years ago, when I had first started teaching, two of our students were drinking and driving a 4-wheeler, on the road, illegally, at night.  They turned off their lights so they wouldn't get caught.  Well, they wrecked and one boy walked away unhurt.  The other boy almost died and is now a quadrapalegic...the mood in our high school was about as low as it could get when they didn't know if he would live.  We couldn't get any teaching done, because the kids were so out of it.  The next year, he had to come back to school in a wheelchair, and I know that was a lesson those kids will never forget!  I think if they can teach them that lesson without someone actually getting hurt or killed, I'm all for it.  If that saved even one kid, I think it was worth it, and I'm sure that students' parents would think so, too!

That is a horrible way to teach someone. They could have created a slide show of real accidents that have taken place with kids all around the country. They could have got a kid whose lived through one to come & speak. They could have got parents/family/friends of kids who have been killed to come & speak. So many better ways to make a point & be effective.

I would have been furious if I were a kid or had kids at that school.

 I agree with SBcrazee. There are other ways to teach the lesson. The way they went about it was horrific.

 i think that that was absolutely horrible of them to do.  here they do mock accidents in the parking lots of the schools and have real fire trucks and ambulances come and when they pull the sheet off the wreckages after telling the stories the volunteer kids are all thrown everywhere and usually someone dies etc. but the kids know that it's not real but learn that yes it can happen to them or their friends.

what if someone was already hanging by a thread emotionally and found out they lost their one and only person of support? it could send them over the edge and they could do something to themselves.  or kids that are already stressed out enough as it is having to go through more trauma than they need to be subjected too. 

in high school i remember the day of a basketball or volleyball game? 2 of my fellow players were in a horrible car accident just a mile from the school, the younger one a 9th grader died and the older one a senior had many many injuries and required many surgeries and didn't come back to school for the longest time.  everyone was devastated, everyone was crying.  that just isn't something to joke about.  what if someone had a heart condition and got too worked up over the deaths and suffered medical problems because of it. 

all of these are "what ifs" but that is exactly what the scenario was about as well.  it might not happen but it could.  i don't think it's right. there are other ways to scare kids straight.

 That is so harsh.

I can't IMAGINE being told that one of my loved ones is dead and then SURPRISE !  It was a hoax.   That is cruel.

There have to be ways of getting the point across - such as taking the kids to the scene of an accident where there is blood.  Ok - so that is gross too - but not the shock like being told that someone you love is dead.

I think this is really wrong.  This technique might have an immediate shock value, but in the long run I think it could desensitize kids to bad news.  It also breaks the bond of trust that the kids might have had with the school administration, with their teachers, and with law enforcement.

 I think *especially in that area of CA and I can easily think of a few others that need that exercise!* it was right on! Of course they got the shock they wanted, that was the point. The students protesting only prove the point that it worked! These kids were actually thinking about it and how it would make them feel, I bet come party nite they'll be reminded of it.

I'd be afraid the students would do what teens do best....rebel. They don't want us to drink? Well let's show them! Kind of an odd tactic IMO. I'd be pissed if a "respectable" adult LIED to me about the death of a friend. You wouldn't get respect from me ever again. Not a good position for a teacher or person of authority to be. I think those totalled cars from accidents involving drinking are scary enough.  My mom and I were talking about this this morning: if the motive is there, there's not a whole lot you can do about it.

Or put the scare tactic on the parents....want to call them and tell them their child died?!? (Kidding....but really is it any different??) But anyway....get the crap out of the refridgerator at home and you may have less trouble. Out of sight, out of mind.

 I guess they got what they wanted to get out of the students...
I'm not quite sure what I think about it though.

When I was in high school they had the whole mock accident scene...I still remember it! Students from the S.A.D.D. committee were in "the accident." They had actual police officers, ambulance, wrecked cars...it was so real. It's something that has stuck with me...so I guess it did the trick.

  Who wouldn't feel BETRAYED?

My senior year the local sheriff came into the jr & senior classes and presented a funeral of a family who had been killed by a drunk driver on video ... there was this three year old little person laying in a casket ~ yeah, it left a mark in my memory to this day.

I think a different approach would have been the smarter way to go .... I see where they were going with this skit BUT .... being betrayed isn't right either!

JMO

 I think it's a great idea, and they definitely needed to add speeding along with that.  I can't tell you the number of teenagers who have died because they themselves had been speeding and then crashed or people in other vehicles were killed because the teenagers had been speeding. 

That being said, the school should have handled it differently.  It sounds like they went classroom to classroom announcing the news.  What they should have done was gotten the whole school in an assembly, announced it, then had the students who participated come out and talk about it and/or present newscasts and/or articles about real-life tragedies regarding the scenarios they presented. 

 OMG!