Unfair Treatment of Oak Grove School

As the father of two daughters, one enrolled at Thacher and one at Oak Grove, I am deeply saddened by your grotesquely unfair treatment of Oak Grove School. Your article implies that Oak Grove tolerates substance abuse, when in fact it may be the most alcohol- and drug-free campus, public or private, in the entire area.

The article dwells upon a party hosted by Oak Grove students at which five Thacher girls “allegedly encountered beer being served and marijuana being smoked.” It states that the five Thacher girls were expelled or suspended, whereas none of the Oak Grove students was punished.

Your article fails to explain that of the approximately 40 kids at the party (which was chaperoned by five adults), only six were Oak Grove students, all-day students attending with their parents’ consent. Two of them were the “hosting students,” with both their parents in attendance at all times, and one was my elder daughter. Neither my daughters nor the adults observed any Oak Grove student consuming or under the influence of any alcohol or drugs. In the circumstances, there was no occasion for discipline by Oak Grove.

There were eight Thacher students in attendance in all. The five who were disciplined by Thacher were boarding students who were absent from campus without permission, and who were also present at the party without invitation. The other three Thacher students, including my younger daughter, were either day students or a boarding student attending with their parents’ knowledge and consent. Those three did not consume any alcohol or drugs. Being innocent, they also went unpunished.

Again, according to my daughters and the host parents, no alcohol was “served” to any minor at the party, and any that was consumed was brought to the premises without the consent or knowledge of the hosts. I am further informed that the students dismissed from Thacher admitted to their school authorities it was they who had brought the marijuana to the party.

Two valuable lessons can be learned from this incident:

1. Parents who undertake to host a party for a large number of high school students must be prepared to provide an extraordinary high degree of supervision.

2. Newspapers that seek respect must be prepared to substitute fairness and accuracy for slanderous sensationalism.

I am sure the parents in question have learned their lesson; I wish I could be confident you will learn yours.

ANDREW B. GUSTAFSON

Ojai