Time to Party – Student Safety in Bangkok |

Dear Parents

This communication is a consequence of a shared concern for the safety of our students / your children. It raises issues that are familiar to us all and ones that have been highlighted before. It is also part of a joint effort by the principals at BPS and NIST to ensure we are giving our communities a consistent message.

Currently several groups are organising large end of year parties, they are advertised widely through facebook and other social media. The organizers specifically target young people to attend their ‘celebration’ parties for Halloween, Christmas, New Year, Valentine’s Day, Songkran, End of Exams, After Grad and so on. We know that these events are extremely popular and if you look on facebook you can see that large numbers of international school students, including ISB students as young as grade 8 have attended them. There is typically a ticket fee, which includes access to an open bar i.e. alcohol until it runs out. We have no control over these events but we will not knowingly allow our students to promote or sell tickets for them at ISB.

We have a number of concerns about these events: excessive drinking and no controls over the age of people being served alcohol; presence of much older people at these parties; inadequate number of fire exits; potential for violence; potential for sexual assault; potential for theft; potential for drinks being spiked; the possible availability of drugs; potentially damaging tagged photographs appearing publically on the internet. The most recent “advertisements” have made open reference to the availability of drugs and the need to carry fake ID if you look young; this has attracted a lot of attention, which increases the risks to all involved.

At ISB we are always mindful of our responsibility regarding educating our students of the dangers of these events and other risky behaviours and we will continue to review and update our programmes. Ultimately all that we can do is encourage our students to make good choices and keep you informed when we hear about these issues.

Please do discuss this with your children and as always do make sure you know where they are going, who they are with and how you can contact them when they are out in Bangkok. I suggest you make the guidelines below the topic of your conversation. If you would like to speak with anyone regarding any concerns please feel free to contact your son or daughter’s counsellor or contact me directly.

Sincerely
Philip Bradley

General Guidelines for Student Safety in Thailand
Students

Should always travel with your mobile phones and call your parents to let them know where you are
Make sure that your mobile phones are charged up and switched on and that you have contact numbers for all of your friends’ families
Should remember the strategies to help you say no to substance misuse
Never leave your drink unattended, ask one of your group to look after it if you have to go to the toilet
Should be aware that any drink, not only alcoholic ones may be ‘spiked’ (tampered with) by someone who may wish to harm you
Always stay with your group when you go out and keep a close eye on each other’s behaviour (in case their drink is spiked)– if it works for your group designate a ‘responsible person’ each time you go out
Pay close attention to ‘outsiders’ to your group and frequently check up on the person that they are talking to
Have an understanding in your group beforehand that if one of you is behaving strangely and irrationally then the others will take them home
If a member of the group, especially a female is behaving irrationally or seems unusually disoriented whether by alcohol or something else stay with them at all times, contact the rest of the group by mobile phone and immediately take the person home
Check in with your parents while you are out and if you are moving from place to place – do this by text if you don’t want to keep talking to them
Go where you told your parents you were going
Text your parents to call you with an excuse why you should go home if you feel you need to get away from a situation

Parents

Always ensure that you know where your child is outside school time and what time they will return home
Many parties are wrongly characterised as ISB parties, this may give you a sense that ISB is supervising the event and that it is safe, if you are told an event is an ISB event it may simply mean there are lots of ISB student attending – always check – start with the official calendar
If your child is going to a friend’s house then always call the other parent beforehand to ensure that you are happy with the arrangement and call again during the visit to ensure that your child is there
Make sure that you know the mobile numbers of your child’s friends so you can contact them if you need to
Keep your mobile phone charged up and switched on when your child is out in Bangkok
Check your child’s health when they arrive home –often a hug and sniff is all that is needed.

These additional points refer to alcohol related / legal matters in Thailand

It is illegal in Thailand for anyone under the age of 20 to enter a bar or night club
It is illegal in Thailand for anyone under the age of 18 to purchase alcohol
It is illegal in Thailand to be in possession of substances such as marijuana, ecstasy, opiates, etc.
It is illegal in Thailand to use fake identification papers or ID cards
No ISB events allow alcohol
After Graduation and After Prom parties are not organised by the school and we can not take responsibility for them
Many bars in Bangkok will willingly permit students who are clearly under 20 years of age to enter them and sell alcohol to them
There are extremely harsh penalties under Thai law for substance misuse (drugs) and such use is viewed as an adult crime even if committed by a student
Illegal substances such as marijuana are easily available in Bangkok and young people are seen as a potential market by drug pushers

An important legal reminder regarding student visas.

To quote the US State Department regulation in relation to Moral Turpitude, Controlled Substances and

Student Visa applications:

“A violation of (or a conspiracy or attempt to violate) any law or regulation of a State, the United States, or a foreign country relating to a controlled substance (as defined in section 102 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 802)), is inadmissible.”

Specifically, the student applicant would be inadmissible for a visa; the law goes on to say that even if a high school student were under 18 at the time of the charge, he/she would have to wait 5 years before being considered for a student visa. If you are age 18 it is a permanent denial.