A discussion about the role of alcohol in the community and the place of parents in teaching their children how to treat alcohol are possible positive outcomes of Queenstown's secondary school "standing down" 13 pupils for intoxication.
The comments came yesterday from Wakatipu High School board of trustees spokesman Greg Turner, who was asked to comment on the year 12 and 13 pupils found to be in varying degrees of intoxication.
Mr Turner said "drunk" was a bit of a strong description for the state the teenagers were in.
The pupils had a drink or two either at home or before attending school during the school's annual Sports Participation Day on Friday. They were caught and stood down for two to five days this week.
A dean noticed a couple of pupils were behaving oddly and smelled of alcohol when they arrived at the school.
"They were whipped away and word was put out to keep an eye out there could be some students who thought this was a good idea," Mr Turner said.
"There were 13 involved in one form or another. They were rounded up and spent quite a bit of time talking with the principal and deputy principal.
"There was one who was quite intoxicated; the rest of them had been involved, but it wasn't like they were rolling around drunk or anything."
The principal told the pupils they would be stood down this week and they had the weekend to explain to their parents what occurred. The school spoke to all the parents, Mr Turner said.
"As far as I'm aware, out of the 13 parents that are involved here, there's only one who thought that it was inappropriate to send the kid home and expect them to tell their parents.
"The rest of them thought it was a good way to handle things. Making them accept responsibility and go and 'fess up to their parents is probably a better lesson than anything - they are young adults.
"We've got zero tolerance and they made a mistake. As [acting principal] Paul O'Connor said, they let themselves down, their families down and their school down and they've got to suffer the consequences."
Mr Turner said it would be a good exercise if the lesson was learned by the pupils. The episode begged the question about who teenagers obtained the alcohol from.
"We live in a town that kind of encourages young visitors' drinking and it would be unusual if that didn't have an impact on our locals as well. I'm not sure that's a conversation that's ever had ... about licensing hours and the way we treat alcohol in this place."
