Revere students face punishment over party

"If in fact they're found in the presence of alcohol, our policies are clear and our past is clear: They will go on social probation," said Dakin, who yesterday was still waiting for a list of students who attended the party, which was broken up by York County sheriff's deputies early Friday.

Forty-one students attended the party held at the summer home of the father of one of the students, according to the sheriff's office. Officers from the York County Sheriff's Office arrived at the home at 3:44 a.m. Friday, responding to a noise complaint. The youths will face charges of being minors in possession of alcohol Aug. 4 in Springvale District Court. Pitrone has been charged with furnishing a place for minors to consume alcohol and is set to appear in the same court on Aug. 25.

Any Revere student found to be involved will be barred from attending school-sponsored social activities, such as Senior Week events, Dakin said. However, the students will be allowed to attend graduation June 10.

Dakin called the incident "disheartening" and criticized parents who provide alcohol to minors or host drinking parties, as authorities allege Michael Pitrone did. The 48-year-old man allegedly hosted his daughter and her friends at his summer house in Acton, an inland town about 100 miles from Revere.

"We're sending the wrong message to kids when we're saying 'Don't drink,' and there are some other adults that say 'Drink, but don't drive,' " Dakin said.

The party grew out of control when dozens more teens than expected showed up, Pitrone's sister, Dawn Perna, told the Globe in a phone interview Friday. Perna said Pitrone's daughter had not attended the prom, which was held Thursday night at the Danversport Yacht Club.

In December, Revere CARES, a program funded by Massachusetts General Hospital and Partners Healthcare to reduce teen drinking and substance abuse, found that the number of high school students engaged in frequent binge drinking - characterized as five or more drinks in a row on six or more occasions in the past month - dropped from 14 percent to 7 percent from 2001 to 2007. In 1997, 59 percent of Revere's middle school students said they had experimented with alcohol; in 2007, the number fell to 42 percent.

School Committee member Carol Tye, a former Revere superintendent and high school teacher, said yesterday that she was discouraged to hear that some students may have decided to drink after the prom.

"These kids, they're educated in this," she said. Administrators and teachers had spent the days leading up to the prom discouraging teens from drinking.

Administrators and teachers had stressed the dangers of alcohol, using as an example last week's crash in Saugus in which an allegedly drunk high school student, driving home several hours after a post-prom cruise sponsored by the school, hit two women, killing one. Students were warned there would be harsh consequences for post-prom drinking.

"Every time we've had an incident, the punishments are exact," Tye said. "There are no exceptions."

Globe correspondent Jenna Nierstedt contributed to this report. Matt Collette can be reached at mpcollette@globe.com.