Students Came To Football Game Drunk, Randolph Superintendent Says

RANDOLPH, NJ — Some of the students forced to undergo drug and alcohol screening at Friday night's football game showed up already drunk from a house party, Randolph superintendent Jennifer Fano said in a second statement on Wednesday. She also apologized to sober students who had to undergo testing.

The entire student section at Randolph High School's Friday night football game was forced to undergo drug and alcohol screening after a beer can made its way to school officials.

Now, Fano is saying additional open containers were found in the student section, and some students "smelled very strongly of alcohol" and were "visibly intoxicated."

It appears the drinking began before the game, at a house party.

"During the game, staff members were also provided with certain social media photos/videos showing our students consuming alcohol at a house party which started several hours before game-time. This disclosure was also provided to the police as it may have criminal elements," Fano said in a statement on Wednesday.

• Read more: 75 Students Tested For Alcohol After Randolph Football Game

Because it was unclear who was drunk and who was not, the entire student section underwent a blood test "out of an abundance of caution," Fano said, but she apologized to sober students forced to have blood drawn.

"I apologize to those well-behaved and respectful students who did not consume alcohol or illegal substances and were subjected to the disturbance and inconvenience of a screening at a hospital or other facility. I apologize to their parents as well," Fano wrote. She said school policy requires a urine sample, but hospitals chose to draw blood.

If students refused the screening, it was considered a positive result and an automatic five day suspension at the beginning on the school year.

The decision to screen as many as 75 students drew ire from students and local politicians, who described a chaotic scene as students waited in classrooms for their parents to take them to emergency rooms.

It was still not clear how many student's tested positive, but school board candidate Christopher Treston told the Daily Record only five students had alcohol in their system.

Going forward, Randolph is planning on improving the screening processes for students entering the game, putting in place a method on how to detect who needs testing and who doesn't, and clarify what type of testing is necessary, among other things, Fano wrote.

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