High School Delays Reopening After 50+ Students Attend House Party

Parents charged and school delays opening after teens busted for throwing huge house party

Depending on who you ask, we’re either in a pandemic or we’re not. Scientists will tell you we are and to keep practicing social distancing and wear masks to slow the spread of the virus, but if you ask 50 high school students and their parents who live in a suburb outside Boston, you can just have full-on parties with no masks or distancing now, apparently. A September 12, 2020 house party filled with Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School students was busted earlier this month and because of its potential to become a COVID-19 super spreader event, the local high school — which was supposed to open for hybrid learning on September 15, 2020 — decided to return to remote-only learning for at least two weeks. Oh, and the parents involved in the house party are facing criminal charges.

Two parents and their teenager in Massachusetts are facing criminal charges after hosting a party that sparked COVID-19 concerns and resulted in the town's entire high school to postpone a return to school for in-person learning https://t.co/YmGBInsDOi

— KMOX St. Louis News (@kmoxnews) September 23, 2020

NBC News reports that the Sudbury, Massachusetts parents and their teen were charged with providing alcohol to minors, which means they could face a fine of up to $2,000, imprisonment for up to a year, or both. Though the charge has nothing to do with COVID-19, a statement from the Sudbury Board of Health says that police reported at least 50-60 students attended the party, and “the students were not wearing masks or practicing social distancing.” Apparently many students gave police false information and some even fled the party, running into the woods.

“Due to lack of information of who attended the event and the inability to consult directly with those students, the risk to the school community cannot be adequately assessed,” the board concluded, before announcing that due to the size of the party, they and the Lincoln Sudbury Regional School High School “collectively decided to delay in-person learning.”

Police have charged a high school student and the teen's parents with allegedly hosting a party of 50 students with underage drinking, which led to the town's high school delaying in-person classes out of concern for COVID-19.https://t.co/gWaiEBlvvV

— NPR (@NPR) September 23, 2020

Currently, the school is not testing all students but “advising” that kids who attended the party get tested.

“After the intensity of hard work and planning that has been done to be able to start school with students in-person, we are profoundly disappointed at this sudden change of plans,” Superintendent and Principal Bella Wong said in a letter to parents, obtained by NBC 10 Boston.

Other parents at the school were disappointed to hear about the delayed school start date. “I’m just thinking maybe the parents need to step up a little bit more,” a parent told the outlet. “I think we just have to really crack the whip with everybody,” said another. “I’m just so sick of hearing that people are being so careless.”

Yes, it’s a huge mess, but more importantly, the parents who cannot be there for remote learning are especially screwed.

“A lot of people rely on school and they’re planning to go back to work and it’s difficult for parents and kids that weren’t involved that wanted to go back,” another parent so elegantly put.

Crazy thought, but what if you didn’t have maskless houses parties with underage drinking during a pandemic? I know, I know, what a deranged idea.