A California school of the Oceanside School district confronted the issue of drunk driving with a whole new kind of scare tactic. Faculty, staff and police officers banded together to create a tragic story that they hoped would convince students not to drink and drive. Typical programs that schools can participate in include parking cars wrecked in alcohol related accidents on school lawns, having students dress in black and remaining unspoken all day in remembrance of those killed and other various presentations from groups such as MADD. This California high school went one step further to make the experience all too real for these unsuspecting students.

Police officers traveled through the building and explained that 26 of their peers had been killed in automobile accidents over the previous weekend, all resulting from drunk driving. In the meantime, these 26 students sat waiting in the school office. The reaction to the news was stronger than the teachers had expected as students broke down upon notice of their classmates and friends untimely deaths. Although the plan had originally been to gather later in the day to explain that the announcements had only been a warning, school officials broke the news early as a result of some of the student’s well-being. While a few students recognize that the event was an effective wake up call that you can never be too careful when driving, others feel that the actions taken were harsh and uncalled for. A number of students are still disturbed by what they were told and are not sure yet how they will handle the situation. Despite the many complaints from families in the school, school officials have not yet showed regret over what this dramatization.

Source: CNN.com and APP.com