Centennial High School in Franklin ranks high in the number of students arrested for spring break underage drinking, according to an article in the Northwest Florida Daily News.
The newspaper compiled lists of the top 10 colleges and top 10 high schools with the highest number of underage drinking arrests so far in 2017, based on arrest records in Okaloosa and Walton counties. The article was published March 31, with three and a half weeks of spring break left.
On the high school list, tying for first with 17 arrests were Huntsville High School in Huntsville, Alabama, and St. James High School in Montgomery, Alabama. Next came Centennial High School as well as Montgomery Academy of Montgomery, Alabama, with 13 arrests.
The newspaper contacted a Williamson County Schools spokeswoman who said she could not confirm that Centennial students were the ones arrested because she did not have the arrest records.
Other Nashville area high schools with fewer arrests but still making the top 10 were Independence High School, also in Williamson County and number nine on the list, and Pope John II High School in Hendersonville at number five. Christian Brothers High School in Memphis was number eight.
Sgt. Jason Fulghum of the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office told the Northwest Florida Daily News that underage drinking among high school students has been a “significant problem,” especially in recent years. He said he didn’t know if it represented a greater problem that that of college underage drinkers, but said it’s one people don’t know as much about.
“When people think of spring break, they automatically think of college,” he said. “They don’t stop and think about the fact that there are a significant number of high school-aged people that we deal with during spring break.”
The only Tennessee college on the college list was The University of the South in Sewanee at number nine.
