A Massachusetts high-schooler and that teen’s parents have been charged for holding a party that forced a school to delay in-person classes because of COVID-19 concerns.
Scott Nix, chief of police in the western Boston suburb of Sudbury, confirmed Monday that charges had been filed under the state’s social host law, which holds parents accountable for underage drinking parties.
At least 50 teens are thought to have attended the party on Sept. 11. Besides the alcohol, it had a “complete lack of safety precautions to protect against the spread of COVID,” said Bella Wong, principal of Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School. She announced the following day that the school would go to remote-only classes for the first two weeks of the school year.
Lincoln-Sudbury, which has about 1,500 students, had planned to start with a hybrid learning model, where part of the student body would be on campus each day.
In giving the rationale for delaying that plan, Wong said that at least 28 of the teens at the party had not been identified: About 15 ran into the woods when police arrived, and 13 who remained gave names that turned out to be fake.
Lincoln-Sudbury is one of four high schools in the Boston area that have delayed in-person classes because of parties in early September.
Most recently, Austin Prep, a private Catholic school in Reading, announced last Tuesday that because about 40 “selfish” students had attended a party, the school would go to full remote teaching for 14 days.
In the Dover area, up to 150 kids attended the party that forced Dover-Sherborn to go remote, and Dedham High School delayed its planned Sept. 21 return to classes because of a “gathering” on the weekend of Sept. 12-13.
