Parents question chaperone accountability on school trip
- By Amanda Getchell agetchell@newburyportnews.com
- Sep 7, 2018 Updated Sep 7, 2018
NEWBURYPORT — Four Newburyport High School students who took a school-sponsored trip to Germany in June and admitted drinking beer at a World Cup viewing party with their host families, but without their chaperones, were punished and sent home early.
Some parents are now seeking answers from the district regarding chaperone accountability and if the students' punishment was appropriate.
On June 28, Steven Picciano and Jennifer Frizzell awoke to emails from their son, Jared Picciano, 17, informing them that he and three other students admitted to drinking beer in Germany. The trip was attended by 19 students and chaperoned by Spencer Wolf, a German teacher at the school, and Christine Fitzgerald, a guidance counselor.
Steven Picciano said he learned that students were attending a watch party for Germany's World Cup soccer team on the afternoon of June 27 at a public location in Waldkirch, where beer was being served. At this event, he said 17 students were drinking beer "as encouraged by the host families," noting the drinking age in Germany is 16. Two students did not attend the party, he said.
As far as he knew, Picciano said both chaperones were not present at the viewing party. In his statement to lawyers, his son Jared said his host family bought him a beer, encouraging him to drink it. There were several exchange parents and adults present, he added. Steven Picciano and other parents are questioning why the chaperones did not attend the viewing party.
"This was a difficult position to be in as I didn't want to offend others and their culture by not accepting and then just thought it was okay, especially since some of the host parents were there as well," Jared Picciano said in a statement to his lawyer. "I do not drink in the U.S. so this is new to me."
According to a letter from Caitlin Leach Mulrooney, a lawyer representing the Newburyport School District, students and parents participating in the program were required to sign an acceptance of the substance policy, which states there is zero tolerance of alcohol, despite the drinking age in Germany.
In addition, students who drank any alcohol would be sent home immediately at their parents' expense.
This policy was signed by Jared Picciano and his mother May 22 and May 21, according to Mulrooney, noting that by having a beer at the viewing party, Jared and three other students who admitted to drinking violated the substance policy.
The next day, the chaperones asked the students if they were drinking beer, Steven Picciano said. Following this one-on-one questioning, which Picciano's lawyer, Lance Lane, claimed to be a "barbaric coercive interrogation and intimidation," students were taken to an internet cafe and told by chaperones to send emails home to their parents, explaining the students violated the zero-tolerance policy.
"We were told to put our phone away and that we could not make any phone calls," Jared Picciano said in his statement. "We all did what they were instructed to do though we were begging to call our parents."
The district's attorney denied Lane's "colorful mischaracterization of the investigation," noted students are routinely separated during interviews, and said students were interviewed by school staff with whom they were "comfortable and familiar." Mulrooney said there was no coercion or intimidation used by the chaperones.
Steven Picciano said he received the email from Jared about 6 a.m. But when some parents received no word from the school by 9 a.m., they drove to the high school to learn from school leaders what was going on with their children.
About noon, Steven Picciano said he received an email from retired Newburyport High Principal Michael Parent and Associate Principal Michael Testa informing parents of an incident involving students who drank alcohol and that chaperones were gathering facts and planning the next steps.
The emails from the students the previous day were sent to the principal, superintendent, parents and both chaperones, as well as coaches and club teachers, Jared Picciano said. School administrators eventually met with parents to let them know when their children would fly home, Steven Picciano said.
"I felt so terrible when writing this letter ... most of us were crying," Jared Picciano said in his statement.
He said the chaperones did not tell the students if any further disciplinary action would be taken. Picciano said he was able to call his parents once he returned to his host family.
Because of the concerns raised by parents, Picciano and his parents were offered the opportunity to meet with Principal Andrew Wulf and the chaperones in mid-August.
Steven Picciano did not attend, claiming the goal of the meeting was to convey no further punishment aside from his son's one-game football team suspension. The father noted that he was aware of this information from a previous phone conversation with Wulf, who he said was not open to an appeal of the sports suspension.
In addition, parents drafted a letter to high school leaders asking for accountability for the chaperones during the watch party and the school administrators' actions in the handling of the situation, said Steven Picciano, who noted he discussed gross negligence and willful misconduct on the part of the chaperones and school system with his lawyer. He is also claiming intentional infliction of emotional distress based on the "extreme and outrageous conduct" by the chaperones.
"The district determined that the chaperones at all times acted appropriately and in accordance with district policy and the substance policy signed by the students and families," Mulrooney said. "The district did, however, acknowledge parent concerns with regard to how the incident was communicated to them. Should similar circumstances arise in the future, the district will use best efforts to notify the parents in person as opposed to via email from chaperones or students."
Superintendent Sean Gallagher said that under district policy, administrators and school staff can't comment on civil cases involving individual students, although no lawsuit has been filed.
Staff writer Amanda Getchell covers Newburyport and Seabrook. Follow her on Twitter @ajgetch.
Amazing Race’ is amazing experience for Salem lawyer
By: Mass. Lawyers Weekly Staff November 9, 2009
An amazing 15 minutes
As a lawyer who built a solo practice directly out of law school, Lance I. Layne says he's always been an "aggressive type of guy." As a contestant on the CBS reality show "The Amazing Race," Layne's aggression may have been his biggest asset and his sharpest shortcoming.
"I've had my own practice for 12 years, and it takes a lot of time and hard work to build up your practice," Layne, of Salem, says. "Being on a reality show was another challenge that I put on my plate."
Layne and his then-girlfriend, now-wife, Kerri Morrione, were the fifth couple knocked from the reality show in which teams of two compete in a worldwide race composed of several legs that take them to destinations like Tokyo, Vietnam, Cambodia and Dubai.
Layne earned a reputation as an aggressive, even pushy contestant who was not a fan favorite. Part of that, he says, is the consequence of being a lawyer.
"Some people out there just don't like lawyers, but I wasn't going to hide it. I'm proud of what I do," he says. While he didn't detect any animosity from other teams, he did see it in fan feedback.
"I definitely put myself out there as an aggressive individual. Everyone thinks lawyers are rich and [that] they are too smart for everybody. That's what the general public perceives. I knew I wouldn't be the hero, and I wound up being more like the villain," he says.
Lane graduated from Boston University in 1990 and earned his law degree in 1997 from the Massachusetts School of Law.
"I went up the hard road, worked and went to school at night. Coming out of that school, there weren't a lot of people banging down your door from the big firms, so I had to go out on my own," he says. "I've been doing this for 12 years. I'd say the first half, I didn't make any money; the second half, things clicked. You get a reputation for doing certain things well, and that reputation is not something you can market – you just have to earn it."
Getting a spot on "The Amazing Race" was the same kind of road, he says, competing against 12,000 to 15,000 other potential contestants. Being a lawyer helped, he adds, allowing him to relax during the stressful interview process. "It's no different than being in front of jury," he says.
"Just getting on the show was the high point," Layne says. "Running up to the [finish line] the first time, and seeing [show host] Phil Keoghan there, that was a big thrill, knowing that this was your time and you had an opportunity to win a million dollars and it was in your hands. I loved that pressure and the stress. It's the same type of pressure and stress in legal work."
Now back in practice in Salem, Layne says he hears comments about his appearance on the show from people in the courthouse and on the street. His dollop of fame has given him a taste for more: He and his wife are contemplating "other projects" for TV, he says.
Would he appear on "The Amazing Race" all over again?
"One hundred percent," he says. "It was the most unique experience I have had in my life up to this point. I would do things differently strategy-wise if I did, but it was just an awesome show, and I got to go to unbelievable places that I never would have visited, plus I got to compete."
Middleton parents found not guilty after underage party
- BY JULIE MANGANIS
STAFF WRITER - Sep 28, 2013
MIDDLETON — A Middleton couple has been found not guilty of child endangerment charges that were filed after a 14-year-old girl attending a New Year’s Eve party in their home was hospitalized for acute intoxication.
Salem District Court Judge Emily Karstetter found on Thursday that the couple, Mark Clifford and Paula Rogers, had been negligent but not reckless during the Dec. 31, 2011, party. Her verdict came following a four-hour trial.
Clifford, 56, and Rogers, 42, of 176 Lake St., were upstairs with their younger children while their teenage daughter hosted a party downstairs for a group of her friends, ranging in age from 14 to 17.
Shortly before 11 p.m., a then-14-year-old Saugus girl at the party began vomiting and then became unconscious. She was later taken to Children’s Hospital in Boston.
Several other girls at the party also tested positive for alcohol.
But Clifford and Rogers, who took the stand in their own defense, insisted that Rogers had checked on the teens every 15 minutes and had no idea they were drinking.
“They were watching their kids as best they could,” said Lance Layne, who represented Clifford.
The teens, several of whom were charged with being minors in possession of alcohol, told police they had sneaked in vodka in a water bottle and then spiked the punch bowl.
Police, in their report, noted that officers found a vodka bottle, along with a 32-ounce beer bottle. The bottles were never collected as evidence, however, and were not introduced during the trial.
Police also learned from interviews with the teens that the girl had been sick, vomiting in a bathroom, for about 15 minutes before passing out. The teens told police they were afraid to call for help because they didn’t want to get in trouble, but eventually did so after the girl lost consciousness.
Police had initially charged the parents with furnishing the alcohol, but a previous judge dismissed the charge after being told that the girls admitted one of them brought the vodka.
On Thursday, Clifford and Rogers opted for a bench trial, which is a trial before a judge, instead of a jury. Layne said the decision to waive a jury was based on the concern that jurors would be unable to focus on the legal definition of wanton and reckless conduct.
During the trial, prosecutor Heidi Sylvanowicz called eight witnesses, including the girl who was hospitalized and her mother, some of the other party guests, and two police officers.
The couple, while cleared of criminal charges, could still be subject to a civil lawsuit from the family of the girl who was hospitalized.
On the night of the incident, the mother of that girl sent a text message and photo of her daughter, in a hospital bed with a tube inserted into her throat, that read, “Thank you for almost killing my daughter. Tell your parents I will see them in court.”
The case bears some similarities to that of a Beverly woman, Tiffany Clark, who was sentenced to serve six months in jail last year after she was found guilty of furnishing alcohol to minors during a Halloween party in 2010. A girl at that party also ended up in the hospital after consuming “Jell-O shots” made with vodka.
Prosecutors had alleged that Clark purchased the vodka and helped her daughter make the shots the night before the party; Clark and her daughter denied buying alcohol, and Clark testified that she had no idea that her daughter was putting alcohol in the Jell-O cups.
But photos from the party showed Clark smoking and texting as teens continued to drink, and she admitted that she, too, started drinking during the party.