Breathalyzer Gets Night Off at East Prom

After adopting a policy in May that , Smithtown School District Edward Ehmann said on Tuesday that after all the hype, none were given at Smithtown East High School's Saturday night prom.

"Everything went off perfectly," he said Tuesday morning. "Everyone was well-behaved. We had no incidents of any kind."

Adopted May 21 with a 5-1 vote from the Board of Education, the policy states that "any student for whom there is a reasonable suspicion of the use of alcohol before or during the school day, prior to or during an extra-curricular, interscholastic, or other school-related function, whether conducted on or away from school property, may be required to submit to a breathalyzer test."

Smithtown joined a growing group of school districts testing students they suspect drinking before or during school events. In 1998, the Sayville School District became the first district on Long Island to administer Breathalyzer tests.

Ehmann said the decision may be drawing more attention than it deserves, as evidenced by the number of incidents reported on Saturday.

"I think it's getting hyped up. You're making a bigger deal of it than it is," he said. "It's just something else we may use if, in fact, other procedures are not definitive ... I hope for the best again at West in a couple of weeks."

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