• SITE
• HOMES
• MOTORS
• CAREERS
• STUFF

GOLIAD – The senior trip was one of their last hurrahs as Goliad High School students.

But three seniors caught drinking on the trip to Schlitterbahn in New Braunfels won’t participate in graduation, and they may face criminal charges from the Goliad County Sheriff’s Department.

While five students were involved in the incident, two of the five boys will be allowed to participate in Friday’s commencement ceremony with the class of 68 students. The other three will receive their diplomas by mail.

The Advocate is not naming the kids involved because they are high school students.

That difference in the school’s punishment is a source of anger for parents of the students who say they were all drinking and should all be given the same punishment. School officials say punishment was handed down according to the district’s code of conduct.

“They should have all been accountable in the same way,” Angie Zieschang said. Her 18-year-old son is among the trio who will not walk. “They knew enough and they all did the same thing.”

Zieschang’s son said he and the other two supplied the Jack Daniels, Everclear and rum the group drank on the bus and in the water park.

“We go through all of our guest coolers and the two things we look for are alcohol and glass containers,” Jeffrey Siebert, director of communications, said. The park sees an average of 9,000 to 10,000 guests per day.

The senior said they were able to continue drinking in the park because park employees did not check his water bottle or the Coke bottles the other students carried.

The students were caught when Zieshchang’s son got sick from the alcohol.

“Between 3 and 3:30, one of the girls saw my son laid out on a table and thought it was funny to take his picture,” Zieschang said. “She didn’t think it was funny to see him coughing and puking.”

Park officials were alerted, as were the trip’s five chaperones.

The students then confessed to drinking the alcohol, the mom said. Zieschang’s son was flown to University Hospital in San Antonio for treatment.

“They all went to the Disciplinary Alternative Education Program. Three of them got 30 days and two of them got 10 days,” she said. “I told them it looked like they were trying to single out those three boys.”

Not so, said Goliad superintendent Sam Atwood.

“According to my understanding of what happened, there were varying degrees of involvement,” Atwood said. “And there were varying degrees of consequence, all of which fall under the student code of conduct.”

Zieschang and her son said the school did not search the students thoroughly.

“All of those students are aware of what they can take and what they cannot take,” Atwood said.

Zieschang was also concerned the chaperones did not notice the drinking.

“They managed to get pretty drunk on the bus. I don’t know how the driver didn’t notice,” she said. Her son said the students sat behind one of five chaperones on the trip and drank.

“You don’t notice that, but you notice a shirt untucked or a belt not being worn at school. I think the coach should be accountable and suffer some punishment,” Zieschang said.

Whatever punishment the trip chaperones may face is a personnel matter, which Atwood said he cannot discuss.

He has met with one set of parents and received a grievance from a parent and will handle that according to board policy, he said.

Incidents like this are rare at the park, Siebert said. Most visitors are there to have a fun, safe experience and abide by the rules.

“I have worked here for more than three years and this is the first time I have heard of an incident like this,” Siebert said.

Other parents of the students involved were contacted but declined to comment or be identified for the story.

Goliad’s law enforcement officials are beginning their investigation into the incident now that that the school district has handled its part, said Sheriff Robert De La Garza.

The district is cooperating with the sheriff’s department, he said.

“When it’s all said and done my investigator will turn over a report. And whatever we have, we will turn it over to proper authorities, the JP’s office or the county attorney’s office,” he said.

De La Garza is hoping to have the investigation finished in the next week.

The mood of the community members of Goliad and the sheriff have been affected by the incident.

“I was disappointed they put me in this position this late in the school year,” he said. “We’re supposed to be celebrating graduation and we are dealing with this.”

Bj Lewis is a reporter for the Advocate. Contact him at 361-580-6535 or bjlewis@vicad.com.