Los Gatos To Strengthen Social Host Laws After Mother's Arrest

LOS GATOS, CA — The Los Gatos Town Council agreed at its meeting Tuesday to strengthen the town’s social host ordinance and update its youth party guidelines after a Los Gatos High School mother was arrested last month on suspicion of repeatedly pressuring teenagers to have sex while supplying them with alcohol at parties that she hosted at her home.

Town officials did not mention the mother, Shannon O’Connor, 47, by name or discuss the specifics of the case. But councilmembers hoped to send a message that parents need to be better educated about and aware of when their kids might be participating in risky activity.

“The fact that we have parties where parents are presenting and providing alcohol is, in my view, the top concern that this council should be addressing,” Councilmember Maria Ristow said. “The one thing we really need to do is change the social norms, change any idea that that’s even remotely acceptable.”

Los Gatos last established youth party guidelines in 2005 with laws concerning youth and alcohol. But town officials said in a staff report that “the use of alcohol by Los Gatos youth has become more prevalent and can lead to other serious health and safety concerns.”

School district officials presented the council with statistics from a statewide survey conducted between 2018 and 2020 showing that a higher percentage of 11th graders at Los Gatos High School consume alcohol and participate in binge drinking than students in neighboring schools.

About 28 percent of 11th graders in Los Gatos High School who were surveyed during the 2018-19 school year admitted to drinking alcohol in the previous 30 days, well above the state average of 16 percent.

The percentage was higher than that of 11th graders surveyed at Saratoga High School (15 percent), at the Palo Alto Unified School District (24 percent) in 2019-20 and at Mountain View Los Altos Union High School District (19 percent) in 2019-20.

Sixteen percent of Los Gatos students also admitted to binge drinking within the previous 30 days, also higher than the state average of 9 percent and the levels at Palo Alto Unified School District (11 percent), Mountain View Los Altos Union High School District (10 percent) and Saratoga High School (7 percent).

The council agreed to work with the youth commission and continue its partnership with the school district to strengthen the social host ordinance and youth party guidelines.

Beyond that, the high school and residents should collaborate in educating parents about what to do when they see underage drinking, Councilmember Matthew Hudes said.

“That’s along the lines of education, but it’s pretty specific,” Hudes said. “It isn’t, ‘Don’t drink.’ It’s, ‘How do we deal with these behaviors when we see them?’”

Updating the ordinance may not be enough because of the potential cultural issues at hand, Hudes added.

“You can’t change culture overnight, but you can make people aware of behaviors and try to make people more effective at dealing with this issue when they see it, particularly the parties,” Hudes said.

Other councilmembers suggested adding guidelines for drug use to the ordinance and teaching students about how to have healthy sexual relationships.

Mayor Marico Sayoc asked how the town could take advantage of positive reinforcement, noting that the survey showed that 84 percent of students polled said they do not partake in binge drinking.

“We just continue to reinforce the message it doesn’t require alcohol and drugs to have a good time and to enjoy one another's company,” Sayoc said.

O’Connor, the mother who was arrested, was charged with 39 criminal counts that include felony child abuse, sexual assault and providing alcohol to minors. She was arrested in Idaho last month and extradited to Santa Clara County, where she remains in custody. She has not entered a plea yet.

She has two sons — a 15-year-old son at the high school and another 13-year-old — and was accused of inviting her son's minor friends to her home for parties and providing them with alcohol to the point where they would "vomit, be unable to stand and fall unconscious," according to a synopsis of findings released by the Santa Clara County District Attorney's office.

O'Connor then encouraged the minors to engage in sexual activity with each other while she sometimes watched and facilitated, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said the incidents took place over an eight-month period between summer 2020 and spring 2021.

Read more:

• Los Gatos Woman Accused Of Hosting Teen Parties With Alcohol, Sex
• 'Cool But Creepy Mom': Los Gatos Reacts To Shocking Arrest