Once again, Corona del Mar High is in the national spotlight for the stupid actions of an entitled few. This time, it was a bunch of drunk students during the school's annual Battle of the Bay game against Newport Harbor High last week, a bacchanal so out-of-control that Corona del Mar's principal has cancelled the school's homecoming dance and pep rally.
Silly kids: Don't you know that the only proper place for high school students to drink is during a house party at the Tampico Motel?
Given this is Corona del Mar, where kids gets new BMWs for their first car and whose most famous teenagers gang-raped an unconscious girl over a decade ago, people are predictably angry at the wrong folks over the fiasco. "The admin are taking a bunch of shit for publicizing [the drunken student actions] from dipshit parents," said one prominent resident who requested anonymity but nevertheless remains "impressed [administrators] didn't hide it. When someone does something right in a school I think it's important to recognize it. (even in wealthy CDM)."
Below is a letter posted on Facebook by Corona del Mar coaches and forwarded to parents who spell out in exacting detail what Mommy's little monsters inflicted on the community. Kudos to them for praising the good students, criticizing the bad one, and lambasting the idiot parents who allow their children to turn Corona del Mar High into a cesspool of sin worse than anything SanTana and Anacrime could ever offer. Enjoy!
— Dear Parents,
As exciting as our victory was at Friday’s Battle of the Bay, we feel compelled to address the behavior of members of our student body, and the consequences imposed by our administration.
First off, we must express our unwavering support of Principal Kathy Scott and Vice Principal Daniel Patterson. They are the two best leaders and educators we have worked under in all of years of teaching and coaching.
Second as we contemplated what to say to our program, we were forwarded a message written by GW Mix, our outstanding Lacrosse Coach. We could not have said it any better, and he granted us permission to share with our football program:
By now, I am sure you have heard of the multitude of unfortunate circumstances which marred CDM’s impressive victory over Newport Harbor in the Battle of the Bay football game on Friday evening. What should have been an incredibly proud moment for the young men on our football team and our entire CDM community has become a source of embarrassment and public outcry.
I was there and I remain dumbfounded by what I witnessed. A multitude of students were intoxicated to the point of being unable to control themselves – found by security personnel stumbling around the concourse or laying in their own vomit in the restrooms. A small fleet of ambulances were called to the scene to handle the more dangerously intoxicated youngsters. Overwhelmed by the sheer volume of incidents, our student resource officer was requesting additional assistance. In the stands, students were throwing items at the fans below them. A number of student-led cheers were laced with profanity. All of this taking place at a Corona del Mar high school football game.
To make matters worse, despite a stern warning from me at the end of practice (less than two hours before kick-off), and a reminder that each of our players is a representative of our program, many of our kids chose to ignore the message and neglect their responsibilities. They made some extremely bad decisions and some were caught in the process.
I am not naive enough to believe the students who were caught and disciplined by the administration were the only ones who made poor choices on Friday evening. While there will be district, CDM and Sea King Lacrosse consequences for those who were identified as being under the influence of alcohol, we will not turn our back on them. We will all learn a valuable lesson and collectively assume responsibility for their actions. Then, we will work together to restore our hard-earned reputation as leaders on our campus and within our community.
After a two-hour candid conversation with many of our seniors last night, I am concerned the issue of underaged drinking and poor decision making by our CDM student body is much larger than any of us may have predicted. I believe it is reaching epidemic proportions and it is finding its way to some of our youngest student-athletes. I was extremely proud of the courage our seniors displayed last night and grateful for their insight and thoughtful perspective. At the conclusion of some terrific dialogue, I challenged our program's leadership to help us find solutions and look for realistic opportunities to help change the current culture. We all agreed the health and welfare of the young men and women in our community is at stake.
Moving forward, I need your help. We all have children in this program. I would ask you to join me in reinforcing the message to our boys that some things are not okay.
It’s not okay to drink alcohol and attend school-sponsored activities. It’s not okay to drink vodka or other hard alcohol as a young teenager. It’s not okay to participate in orchestrated “F#&K YOU HARBOR” or similar cheers from the stands at a high school football game. It’s not okay to involve our younger players in activities or conversations inappropriate for younger players. It’s not okay to publicize inappropriate behavior through social media. It’s not okay to allow a teammate to think any of this is okay. It’s not okay to not speak up when you know you should say something.
In support of these messages, there are also a few things that are okay. It’s okay to express your disappointment in your son’s poor choices or bad behavior. It's okay to make him stay home for a night, or an entire weekend when you sense enough is enough. It’s okay to say "not tonight". It’s okay to say “no."
Along with you and your sons, I look forward to overcoming the many challenges these difficult issues present to us. Together, I believe we can make a real difference in our school community.
As I asked the boys last night – If not us, then who?
Thank you for your time.
G.W.
The CDM Football program’s goal is to provide the best on field experience, while assisting in making our players the best young men they can be. We appreciate your continued support.
Dan O’Shea
Kevin HettigGo SeaKings!
Thank you, Thank You for your courage and for addressing this issue. To often parents are afraid to take action out of fear of their children’s anger and temper tantrums. Raise your children to respect themselves and others so that no one else has to raise them for you! The enabling parent has no one to blame but themselves when the child is held accountable for their bad decisions. Sometime in a court of law!