Skip to content

EDITORIAL: Where do you stand on grad parties

The school is hosting a town hall meeting this Thursday over the lunch hour to address the matter.
13798146_web1_gregggaylord2
Lake City Secondary School principal Gregg Gaylord sparked much conversation on the Tribune online about how the community feels about youth attending parties in the middle of the school week. Angie Mindus photo

Our story LCSS principal sounds alarm about mid-week “grad camp-outs” sparked a lot of conversation online last week.

In the article longtime Lake City Secondary School principal Gregg Gaylord sounded the alarm on what he believes is just too much partying occurring mid-week from students hoping to graduate high school this year. He asked whether the under-aged Grade 12 students should even receive the thousands of dollars and many volunteer hours from the community for Dry Grad festivities in the spring if it only means the kids are partying every other day of the year.

Good point.

READ MORE: LCSS principal sounds alarm about mid-week “grad camp-outs”

Parents and community members young and old waded into the debate, many outspoken parents arguing it’s a right of passage for students to party in their senior year, while others said the behaviour is just becoming too high risk.

We applaud Gregg Gaylord for caring enough to bring the matter to everyone’s attention. Let’s be clear, he had a few students arriving to school dirty and/or drunk or not at all after having had a “grad camp-out” on a Wednesday night. Aren’t we setting the bar pretty low?

That’s on top of the usual suspensions for marijuana use that is likely to only escalate after weed is legalized later this month.

The school is hosting a town hall meeting this Thursday over the lunch hour to address the matter.

Gaylord said he can’t force anyone to attend but he is hoping that students and concerned parents will come and listen to speakers including representatives from the City, RCMP and local fire department and perhaps come up with some ideas that could keep the students safe.

The meeting is just one way to start the conversation, if the community shows any further interest, more discussion can take place or parents can also talk to their children at home.

­—Williams Lake Tribune



Do you have a comment about this story? email:
editor@wltribune.com

Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.



Angie Mindus

About the Author: Angie Mindus

A desire to travel led me to a full-time photographer position at the Williams Lake Tribune in B.C.’s interior.
Read more