Teenagers need to take more responsibility, officials say

After the party at the Danversport Yacht Club, the school bused students into Boston for a late-night harbor cruise, where they had their breath checked again. Following the cruise, a local tradition held after each prom for nearly a decade, the students were bused back to Saugus High School.

Given the alcohol tests, the transportation, and the chaperones, there's only one place to lay the blame, on the students involved, said officials at other schools and groups that fight drunken driving.

At some point, they said, the students have to take responsibility for their own actions.

"It appears the school did everything they could to supervise their students," said Paul Wetzel, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Secondary School Administrators' Association. "But after they're out from under the supervision of the school, there's not much more you can do. In this case, the prom was over. The school can't take them home and put them to bed."

Over the years, state transportation and school officials have become increasingly concerned about the safety of young drivers at this time of year, when newly licensed students party during the season of proms and graduation.

Over the last five years, before this weekend's crash, newly licensed drivers during May and June were involved in at least 23 car crashes that led to 25 deaths, including 17 teenagers, according to the state Registry of Motor Vehicles.

"Young people need to appreciate [that] these kinds of choices have severe, lifelong consequences," said Rachel Kaprielian, registrar of the Registry of Motor Vehicles. "This is exactly the kind of tragedy that's affecting many families that we are trying to avoid. We're trying to hammer home during this season that there can be terrible tragedies."

But many students have yet to get the message.

Last week, Registry officials teamed up with police to set up checkpoints at 33 high schools from Marblehead to Falmouth to Worcester. They stopped 4,457 newly licensed junior drivers and issued warnings for 635 seat belt violations, as well as 54 warnings for violating rules that prohibit those ages 16 and 17 from driving with peers.

Mary McNamara, executive director of Mothers Against Drunken Driving - Massachusetts, said she has fielded more than a dozen calls since the weekend with people asking the same question: What more could have been done?

"I wish I knew," she said. "There is no silver bullet."

Julie Briggs, a physical education teacher for the last 16 years at Malden High School who serves as coordinator for the group Students Against Destructive Decisions, said she thought, at the least, Saugus could have ended the night before 4 a.m. But she blamed the students for not calling it a night afterward.

"The bottom line is that the kids should have enough at 4 a.m., and they should have went home," Briggs said. "When is enough, enough? When should the night end? How do you carry it over? Somewhere down the line, the kids have to be responsible for their actions."

At Whitman-Hanson Regional High School, which also does breath checks during the prom, principal Ed Lee said he and his staff have done their best to educate students about the dangers of mixing alcohol and driving.

Students caught with alcohol on their breath at school formals can get suspended for five days, and athletes in the same position are required to sit out 20 percent of their season.

"The unfortunate part is that humans learn by making mistakes," Lee said. "Most mistakes are learning opportunities, but some mistakes are life changing. So as much as we try to help students work through mistakes, some are just beyond our control."

David Abel can be reached at dabel@globe.com.