D.C. school keeps prom site secret to prevent hotel rentals, bans some foods ahead of 4/20
WASHINGTON (ABC7) -- Woodrow Wilson High School principal Kimberly Martin sent a memo to families recently explaining that the school's senior administrative team withheld the location of the prom to prevent parents from booking hotel rooms for their children.
"The longer they waited, they reasoned, the more likely rooms would be unavailable," she wrote.
The letter also explained that baked goods, gummy bears, drinks, lollipops and candy bars would be banned this week ahead of April 20, a day known in cannabis culture as 4/20, which celebrates the use of marijuana.
The letter came after an incident on April 13, wherein seven students at the school were hospitalized for possible overdoses, according to DC Fire and EMS. Some students told ABC 7 the incident involved Percocet, but that has yet to be confirmed by DCFEMS, police, or school officials.
Martin acknowledges that incident in the letter, writing:
"The administrative team continues to be concerned about situations like last Friday, and we fear that providing hotel rooms for students after prom or during Beach Week is parents' tacit endorsement of reckless and irresponsible behavior. High school students have an uncanny ability to find unsupervised parties, especially over weekends and special occasions like prom or Beach Week. While the intent of students is rarely to cause harm to themselves or others, when alcohol and drugs are involved, students are not in a position to manage situations judiciously, or to prevent unhappy or tragic endings."
She also wrote that the administration suspects 4/20 "will be another day of risk-taking for our students."