More than 200 Lake City Secondary School students, parents, teachers and community leaders spent their lunch hour Thursday discussing concerns surrounding grad parties.
The meeting was opened with a speech by LCSS principal Gregg Gaylord who went over some of the many concerns he has with students conducting multiple mid-week and weekend “grad camp-outs” throughout the year.
Mr. Gaylord agreed grad parties have been happening for ages, however, in recent years the parties have increased in frequency and more recently came to a head Sept. 12 over a party at the east end of Chimney Lake in a day use only rec site just a few hundred metres from the nearest home.
Read More: LCSS principal sounds alarm about mid-week “grad camp-outs”
After Mr. Gaylord’s address, students were read the riot act by Chimney Lake resident Rusty Rustemeyer who dealt with the party on-site that night, noting they have been concerned about unattended fires for years.
Spokespersons from the Ministry of Forests enforcement and recreation also schooled the kids and their parents on the $4,500 taxpayer burden of moving access barricades and cleaning up after the party.
We give credit to the many students and panel of Grad Council who attended, offering their apologies, assurances for the future and suggestions of ways they can also leave a positive legacy for the community to remember them by.
Read More: Editorial:Where do you stand on grad parties?
Parents were mixed in their response, one saying that parents should be more engaged in ensuring the students are supervised and safe while another criticized the media for shining a negative light on the kids.
In the end, the town hall meeting didn’t have any concrete solutions, however, it did exactly what Mr. Gaylord was intending and that is to involve the greater community in ensuring the safety and responsibility of the kids are met.
Hopefully those respectful conversations will continue throughout the year so the graduating class can have a successful and enjoyable year ahead.
- Williams Lake Tribune
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