Editor’s note: The following is a statement issued Monday by SAD 43 Superintendent Jim Hodgkin on last week’s teen party in Roxbury.

“I would like to take this opportunity to address the situation regarding the teen party in Roxbury last week that involved students from Mountain Valley High School. I want to be clear that I am speaking on behalf of myself and not on behalf of the MSAD#43 School Board. Let me begin by stating that it is not my intent to attempt to minimize the event or the decisions that were made by any of our young people. It is, however, to provide some perspective and understanding regarding the school’s responsibility to deal with the students involved and to shed some light about how this has been handled. I also want to thank the law enforcement officials who were involved in this situation. Often, I believe that there is a false sense of safety, because students get away with this kind of thing so many times. How many times have “more experienced adults” gotten away with breaking the law. Not getting caught does not make it right.

“I personally met with the seniors prior to final assembly last week to share my thoughts with them. Prior to speaking to them, I had several hours to be with them and around them as they were taking part in various activities in preparation for graduation. What I saw was amazing. These students clearly understood the seriousness of what had happened. I saw a wide range of emotions. They were clearly angry and embarrassed for themselves and the communities that they have served and represented so well over their 13 years. They had copies of the newspaper article and were trying to process the entire situation. Their pain was obvious.

“When I spoke to them prior to final assembly, I let them know that the decision to bring alcohol to their party was wrong and broke the law. It was wrong when young people of my generation did it many years ago, it was wrong when their parents did it when they were their age, and it will always be wrong. They took a chance that many, many others had taken before and they got caught and would suffer the consequences. They knew and understood. What I didn’t hear were statements like “everyone does this…” or “what’s the big deal…” These students took a chance that they knew was wrong and they got caught. I will say that if anyone thinks that things are worse here in the River Valley than the rest of the state, then they are fooling themselves. This problem is neither new or ignored.

“Some people wanted to see a public lynching of some sort for those involved. First, regarding disciplining students for behavior outside of school, that is not the school’s role, except as that applies to student athletes or students whose behavior is criteria for various groups and/or recognitions. Yes, those students were involved and those students suffered the consequences of their actions. For anyone who wanted that action to be public, it does not work that way and never will.

“Matt Gilbert and I both received calls and had conversations with people who wondered how this would affect the student’s ability to march at graduation. Some asked because they were concerned that the school would not permit them to march, while others asked because they wanted to express their opinion that those students should not march. From the school’s perspective, the two issues are mutually exclusive. Had this event occurred last fall, no one would even consider how it would affect their participation in graduation. Graduation and the events around graduation are a celebration of the entire 13 years of accomplishments.

“If we were to decide whether a student participated in graduation based upon a disciplinary act, most students would not get to participate. A major role for schools is to teach students how to learn from their mistakes, even really big embarrassing mistakes. Ultimately, as this is not truly an area that the school is able to take disciplinary action in, helping students understand why this is wrong, figuring out how to learn from this, considering what we might be able to do to prevent this from happening again in the future, and helping the community to understand what happened and how they can help, is all we can do.

“Underage drinking is a big problem for Maine and the nation. One look at the MYDAUS survey and any national survey on underage drinking will tell you that. This is a school and community problem. What happened here could have happened in virtually any community in our country. That is the sad truth. We can’t ignore that. We shouldn’t minimize it, but we also should not be so quick to condemn these students as bad. Indeed, they are absolutely not bad. These are some of the finest young people I have ever met in my twenty-four years in education.

“When I met with them, I shared some of my observations of them from earlier that day. One thing I saw that was so destructive was the anger and judgments that they were making about each other. Those that were at the party making judgments about those that were not and those that were not making judgments about those that were. That is so typical and so destructive. Our society is exceptionally good at judging the actions of others. I cautioned these seniors to be very careful about doing that.

“Instead, these seniors and our community has to get beyond that. Label their decisions as bad, as it was. But don’t label them as bad, as they are not.

“MSAD 43 will continue to explore ways to dissuade our young people from making these kinds of choices in the future. In order to be successful, it will take a combined effort of the schools, the parents, the community, and the students.

“While I don’t condone the choice made by these students, I stand by them and my claim that these are some of the finest young people I have ever met. I also stand by our decision not to mix the events of this teen party with their 13 year accomplishment. Lest we forget that there were an overwhelming majority of students that were not at the party and did not need their graduation tainted with something they had nothing to do with.

“Lastly, one person who called was absolutely adamant that the school should make an example out of these students and “punish” them severely.

“I think this is the perfect opportunity to teach these “new” adults a greater lesson- learn from your mistakes, be careful about how you judge others mistakes, and practice forgiveness. Now that would be a nice lesson for a lot of “experienced” adults to learn as well.