Updates on High School Dances and High School Crashes

I've been watching a couple of South County stories with interest to see how they play out. The first is the situation at Aliso Viejo High School involving the decision to cancel school dances after the prinicipal's shock at the behavior of the students during the back-to-school dance. Principal Charles Salter is sticking to his guns, and good for him:

Charles Salter, principal since 2001, canceled school dances for the rest of the year hours after a back-to-school dance this month.

Salter said some students at that dance appeared to be intoxicated, violated the dress code and were "freaking" – a type of dancing Salter has described as simulated sex that verges on sexual harassment.

"The school doesn't have to have dances, and people don't remember that," Salter said. "Dances are a privilege. Administrators, parents and teachers volunteer their time so we can have them."

Many parents and students were hoping Salter would reinstate dances – something he is considering – in time for the Oct. 28 homecoming dance.

Salter said he was encouraged in the past few days after holding forums with parents and students to address dancing, dress code, drinking and parental involvement. More than 700 parents packed the school gym Saturday to discuss the ban, and many were eager to get the dances back in time for homecoming.

Salter said there is no rush and that he will not budge until he sees a list of rules and consequences drafted by parents, students and administrators that will curb the behavior.

The homecoming football game against San Clemente is still on, and the homecoming court will be announced during halftime – but no dance, Salter said.

"Of course, that went over like a ton of bricks," Salter said.

In the meantime, word has spread around campus of off-campus dances being organized by students to replace homecoming.

I think the principal is doing the right thing trying to get control of the situation, but that last sentence concerns me. Instead of dancing at the school in some sort of supervised situation, there may be a whole variety of dances held in unsupervised situations on homecoming night, and what will be the result of one of those kids gets drunk and kills himself or somebody else while trying to drive home?

The parents need to support the principal in this situation until it's resolved to everyone's satisfaction, and any parent who decides to allow their kids to host or participate in an unsupervised situation is asking for trouble.

Speaking of high school car wrecks, the story about the accident near my home (posts here and here) got a little stranger. One of the race participants who was supposedly the passenger in the car that didn't crash has now come out and said he was the driver. His license had been revoked for numerous violations, accidents, and failure to appear in court:

A college student from Irvine who at first said he begged his friend to slow down moments before a fatal crash during an impromptu street race now says that he was behind the wheel.

"I was driving," Mohsen Modjtahedi, 20, said Thursday.

He originally told police that he was a passenger in a Mercedes-Benz driven by Arya Asgarynejad when Parees Ghassemian challenged them to a race Monday in Laguna Hills...

But Thursday, Modjtahedi said he was in shock after the 8:30 p.m. crash and did not object when Asgarynejad offered to take the blame because Modjtahedi's driver's license is suspended.

"He said he was going to handle it because I was suspended," Modjtahedi said. "He offered to."

Modjtahedi's driver's license was temporarily revoked in April because he failed to appear in court to handle traffic citations issued in Orange and Los Angeles counties, a California Department of Motor Vehicles spokesperson said Thursday.

Court records in Orange County show that Modjtahedi got four traffic citations in 2005 for violations, including speeding and running a stop sign or red light.

The records show Modjtahedi did not appear in court to take care of any of those citations.

I received some criticism from a commenter who took umbrage at my use of the word "morons" to describe the street racers whose actions resulted in this fatal accident. Given this guy's driving history and lack of respect for the law and for others, I think the word "moron" was an understatement.