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Home > Blogs > Get on the Bus > Archives > 2008 > February > 19 > Entry
What are the kids doing when you’re not home?
Cheryl Smith
I feel sort of bad for former Centerville school board member Cheryl Smith.
Last week, on Valentine’s Day night, her teen-aged children apparently threw a party at her house when she was not home that brought the police to her door. The kids refused to let them in, forcing officers to wake up a judge for a search warrant. Smith arrived home at about 3 a.m. to discover the unpleasant scene. And this all ended up on the front page — with her photo — of Saturday’s DDN.
An embarassed Smith resigned from the school board the day after the party. We have a new story on our Web site today in which she says she resigned because she didn’t want to be a distraction for Centerville schools.
There is a lot we don’t know about the incident and a police investigation is still underway. Did Smith know there was going to be a party? I’m going to assume for now she did not. I don’t know any of the people involved personally and I don’t know enough to know how much responsiblity Smith might bear for what happened.
But at least for the moment, I’m giving her the benefit of the doubt.
If you assume this party took place without her knowledge, then I have to tell you something like this could happen to almost any parent. Teen-agers are tough to handle. It can difficult to know where to draw the lines when it comes to trust and responsibility. Sometimes, you’ll make mistakes or they’ll let you down.
The difference is, you probably won’t end up on the front page if it happens to you.
In this case, Smith was a public figure, even if she was a minor one in the grand scope of things. She was the immediate past president of the Centerville school board, and this incident seems likely to get some Centerville students some serious discipline for what they did at Smith’s house. It’s a news story for sure.
Even so, I feel bad for her.
What do you think about this incident? Should Smith have resigned? Should she be getting the benefit of the doubt? Am I off the mark when I say this could happen to almost any parent?
Permalink | Comments (33) | Categories: Student Health and Safety
Comments
By Jack
March 3, 2008 11:17 AM | Link to this
EJ; At least we finally agree on somethingBy EJ
March 1, 2008 5:48 PM | Link to this
Jack, I’m glad your NOT my neighbor! Good job Centerville Police. How many lives were saved on Feb. 14/15th? The community should be very proud and honored to have a police department and a group of neighbors that really do care!By Jack
March 1, 2008 10:05 AM | Link to this
Dear Lausanne neighbor, Lausanne resident, hey kool aide drinker or really I could just address this to urgonna love my music—since you are the only one sending nasty messages, like your an authority on this subject with all the facts. I just want to tell you to get a life and stop being the Mrs Kravitz of the street. No one likes a nosy neighbor and I’m sure no one likes you, since you seem to be very hateful. You are the one I’m referring to when I said Centerville real estate prices are dropping as I type. I would not buy a house on a street you lived on if it was the last house on earth..a ditch would be a better home. Don’t call yourself a neighbor—you don’t deserve the titleBy Jack
February 28, 2008 11:39 PM | Link to this
My comments weren’t about the teenagers. My comments were about the other Centerville idiots like Hey Kool aid drinker and Lausanne neighbor that I would not want as a friend, neighbor, or city I live in…..By ...
February 28, 2008 6:33 PM | Link to this
Let me ask you this question you who live on Lausanne Drive. Did you ever drink alcohol before you were legally permitted to? If the answer is no, then be my guest to judge “today’s” teenagers and the choices they make. But put yourselves in their place for a moment. Yes, underage drinking is irresponsible and dangerous, but are Centerville teenagers the only ones guilty? I think that before (Jack im talking to you) you judge our community, take a look around and look at all of the good things that come out of Centerville. Maybe you shouldn’t make such ignorant comments about this city before considering the other aspects.By lausanne Drive Neighbor
February 28, 2008 11:21 AM | Link to this
RE: SICK AND TIRED: A M E N ! ! !By sick and tired
February 27, 2008 4:31 PM | Link to this
Are you kidding me? It takes a village? Why doesn’t the village come to Lausanne drive and help pick up the cigarette butts, beer cans and eggs in my parents yard. CJ very nice testament to your sister too bad it doesn’t address the real problem of the underage drinking and wild driving on the street. I am disguested that this is being spun as a poor mother finding a party at her house. Are you kidding? You honestly believe those kids? I know alot of parents who would have dealt with the situation once and only once. Helping in the community doesn’t help safe driving in the neighborhood. It defeats the purpose if your home is a mess. Maybe she should stay at home and try being a good mother instead of activist of the year.By Jack
February 26, 2008 11:25 PM | Link to this
Sounds like Centerville is a really nice community to live in?! LOL…I’ll be sure to write it in for the list of worst places to live..Real estate prices are going down as I type.By Hey KOOL-AID Drinker
February 26, 2008 6:48 PM | Link to this
Excuse me! It takes a village? That is the problem with today’s kids. It should be the parents responsibility and no one elses. I am not for…if everyone else is doing it, you should too! If it takes a village and the parent is not going to be responsible and teaches their kid that it is ok to break the law because it is a right of passage to drink, then I guess the village of Centerville and their neighbors are going to put a stop to this behavior. Tell Cheryl’s kids to drive responsibly as well. I am tired of them driving 50 mph down our streets. It is just a matter of time before someone gets hurt.By cj
February 26, 2008 12:34 PM | Link to this
Lausanne neighbor—Here’s the thing, I know my sister, I know she is a well educated, a resonable, and responsible adult. I know my niece and nephews—they’re great kids..they do well in school, they are involved in athletics, they love their family, their friends their community and their neighbors. If you needed or wanted anything from them they would be there for you…if they knew you were in need….None of us have e.s.p. I know sometimes teenagers can be annoying, I have had teenagers. But what has happened to neighborhoods. Neighborhoods used to look out for each others children, not in a hateful way, but in a caring, I don’t want to see anything happen to you way…..I’m a nurse at a local hospital and I see too much disconnect in our society. Hillary Clinton said it best “it takes a village to raise a child” it really dones…I would hope that before a situation would come to this in the future, cooler heads might prevail. Centerville schools lost a great attribute. They lost someone who cared to give their time and fight for what they needed. Why, because teenagers did what sometimes teenagers do. Maybe this will prompt others to volunteer in Cheryls place. I wish you luck on your street and in your community. CJBy Lausanne Drive Neighbor
February 26, 2008 9:23 AM | Link to this
cj, If there was no parties going on, why did I see kids getting cases of Adult Drinks out of the trunk of there car? I called police on September 1, and Cheryl refused entry into her home twice. Then she got busted on the 14th. cj, you never had to clean up the mess left by the Smith’s parties. cj, your sister has you snowballed! Thank GOD our street has been quiet since the 14th.By cj
February 25, 2008 8:20 PM | Link to this
Neighbors—I know for a fact there were not parties going on as you say. It’s amazing to me how “STORIES” can be misconstrued as fact. I apologize Scott for not finding my initial post.By Lausanne Drive Resident
February 24, 2008 6:03 PM | Link to this
Mary, Thank you for the comments you wrote to CJ. You hit the nail on the head. We were tired of ALL the parties. CJ, your sister should be ashamed. She has not even said sorry to us neighbors.By Mary
February 23, 2008 10:27 PM | Link to this
CJ, I admire you for defending your sister and her children at his stressful time. I agree with some of your points. However, your sister is not the only potential “victim” in these matters. Other people are impacted by loud parties and stressed by policies and issues in the education environment. Sometimes, board members - I am not refering to your sister since I do not know her or live in her district -seem to turn a deaf ear to these other stresses other families in the education community face. Also, neighbors have a right to a peaceful existence from noisy neighbors and might be more adversely impacted by noise, disturbed sleep, and work demands. There seems to have been a pattern of disrespect to the concerns of neighbors and possibly some related illegal behavior. People are killed by teen (and adult) drinking. Accident rates for teens are very high. Not long ago,a young student in Bellbrook died from one such incident at a teen party.By tbill
February 23, 2008 11:27 AM | Link to this
Feeling bad for this mom who left her teens alone until 3 AM? You were at the party, Scotty?? Now you’ve had to put your foot in your mouth, so how does it taste? Sounds like the apples didn’t fall far from the tree in the Smith family.By CJ
February 23, 2008 12:05 AM | Link to this
Cheryl is my sister and I am the aunt to her beautiful children. Cheryl has been a very caring and responsible parent and school board member. Cheryl has worked very hard to improve educational opportunities within the Centerville school system not only for her children, but for ALL children. Cheryl is not perfect, her children are not perfect, None of the self righteous people making comments on this site are perfect. We can only try to avoid negative outcomes and work to improve when they happen. Kids make mistakes. With guidance they learn from those mistakes. I’m appalled by the number of people that are willing to jump on the band wagon of Cheryl bashing when you only have the smallest details of this event. I am very close to my sister and don’t know the details of what happened, Cheryl is very private, caring and NOT arrogant. She doesn’t spend her evenings in bars in Cincinnati? (I don’t know where someone pulled that from). If Cheryl said she resigned to the benefit of Centerville schools then that is the truth. How many of you have offered to spend your time improving your community? How many of you volunteer? How many of you even attend PTO meetings. Instead of criticizing, thank Cheryl for what she has done for the school system. Help her find solutions for what has happened and happens to so many teenagers. Don’t be so cruel, maybe parents that have been through similar incidents can offer suggestions to Cheryl via this site on reasonalbe solutions. I really don’t think the kids should be taken to county “lock-up” for having a teenage party. Should we stone Cheryl in the city square too?By Mary
February 21, 2008 7:27 AM | Link to this
Today’s articles about the incident imply she should have resigned even before now,or maybe not even run for school board. It makes things appear she thought students were mainly to “party hearty”. Maybe she ran to get astroturf or the new performing arts center for Centerville. I just do not envision her household fretting about things like lack of gifted ed or AP classes.By Caroline
February 20, 2008 9:43 PM | Link to this
It is probably for the best that she resigned. She’s right when she says that this will draw too much attention away from the district. It sounds like she made an incorrect judgment call by staying out so late. Of course, we have no idea what the details are in this matter. Even teenagers of “good” families get involved in nonsense like this. I don’t think that it necessarily points to bad parenting skills. It may be that she was just naive as to how mature her kids are. My family would have never let me stay alone that long, but they were quite strict.By Concerned Mom of 3
February 20, 2008 9:29 PM | Link to this
I shall cast no stones… Clearly, there were some bad decisions made. As a public official, of course she is going to be in the spotlight. She signed up for that. I think she was wise to step down from her position on the school board, so she can deal with the things that are happening in her personal life. She has to put the children first. The effects of this one night will impact their lives for a long time to come. The whole family will have to deal with the consequences of the irresponsible choices that were made- even if the law goes easy on them. Their path from here will not be an easy one. Hopefully, they will learn from their mistakes, and their lives will be richer for it. Derwood made some very good points about personal responsibility and respecting authority.By TKd
February 20, 2008 9:07 PM | Link to this
I think that she’s lucky for not going to jail. Parent’s who do such irresponsible things (like leaving the teenagers home alone until wee-hours of the morning) deserve to be punished as well as the kids. I can’t say for sure,but a parent of a teenager should not be out until 3am unless they are at work. Then there’s nothing you can do. But we all know that coming home at 3am closely relates to the time that bars close in the Cincinnati area. What a coincidence that the children take note of the parents habits. This probably won’t be the last time for her unfortunately.By Laura
February 20, 2008 8:40 PM | Link to this
I was feeling sorry for her- having helped raise a step-daughter who is now a mom, a foster daughter and now with a teenage son. We kept very close controls on the foster daughter and she still pulled some stunts we couldn’t figure out how she accomplished. But if “socialwrker” is correct that this is the second time something like this has happened, then No, she deserves what she gets.By Tim
February 20, 2008 7:05 PM | Link to this
I can see their are allot of ignorant people in here that obviously do not have children. Kids are going to make mistakes no matter how hard you try to keep them from getting in trouble they always seem to find a way. To any parent that has a kid that hasn’t done anything wrong like this your the exception not the rule.By MC
February 20, 2008 6:20 PM | Link to this
I do not disagree with most of the comments made here; however, none of us know why she wasn’t there. How do we know if there was to be an adult present who didn’t show up? Any number of things could have happened that we are not privy to. Perhaps it was parental irresponsibility but perhaps not. My only point is that since we do not know, it is unfair to judge her so harshly. How would you feel if the shoe was on your foot? I do not mean to imply that what the kids were doing was justified, for many it was illegal and they should be held accountable for their behavior and deal with the consequences.By Al
February 20, 2008 2:12 PM | Link to this
I do believe it was wise for her to step down. It’s unfortunate that her children didn’t act responsibly while she was out. However, responsible behavior starts in the home and sometimes you have to set stronger boundaries with teenagers to get the point across. Teenagers can be immature and its up to the parents to guide them to make the right decisions.By JT
February 20, 2008 12:11 PM | Link to this
MC please enlighten us with the justifications, I mean “facts” about why there were a number of children drinking at the home of a school official at 3:00 am? I haven’t read the ORC lately, but I do believe that it is against the law to drink under the age of 21 in the state of Ohio. There is not a lot facts that can justify that. Since she is an elected official and she represents a public entity, she has higher public standards, especially where she lives. How many kids’ expulsion hearings has she upheld because of her position? Kind of hypocritical if she allows her children to behave such as she has. She is getting what she signed up for.By MC
February 20, 2008 11:28 AM | Link to this
Boy Al, you sure sound judgemental given that you know none of the facts yet.By Socialwrkr
February 20, 2008 11:17 AM | Link to this
I would have given her the benefit of the doubt, had this not been the SECOND time the police have been to the home for a teen party. Knowing her children did this before, she had no business leaving them alone until 3 am. I feel for her that her business was made so public, but she made all the choices that lead to that. So no sympathy from me, and no, it doesn’t happen to any parent, only those not monitoring their children.By JT
February 20, 2008 9:32 AM | Link to this
Several things struck me as I read about this situation. I wondered why Ms. Smith was out of the house until 3:00 am on a weeknight. As my grandpappy always said, not a whole lot of good happens after midnight. And why were the children out so late? It sounds like a whole lot of adults made bad judgments that evening. I am guessing that the schools didn’t have school on Friday. Should she have resigned? I’d say that it was probably best that she did, conflict of interest among the reasons. Children make a lot of stupid decisions based upon their immaturity, like not letting the police in, underage drinking just to name a few. Ms. Smith’s decisions were inexecusable and now she should face the consequences.By J
February 20, 2008 9:27 AM | Link to this
DId anyone ever find out where she was until 3am on a school night?? If you want your kids to not do something like this - which they will if given the opportunity - then they obviously should not be home alone until 3am!! And what about the parents of the kids that were attending the party? My parents NEVER let me out until 3am - even when I was home for the summer while in college!By Al
February 20, 2008 8:35 AM | Link to this
I don’t feel sorry for her in the least bit. She left teenagers home alone until 3 a.m. in the morning unsupervised. Didn’t she even bother to call and check up on them, she would’ve heard something fishy going on in the background. I think it was irresponsible parenting. Also, Centerville needs to get all of the underage drinking and doing drugs under control.By Ken
February 20, 2008 7:51 AM | Link to this
I would need to know more about why there were no parents at the home at 3am. I’m not comfortable with leaving minors, even teenagers, alone at home overnight or until late into the next morning. Yes, it can happen to any parent..who is not keeping an eye on things. She did not need to resign but perhaps she felt people would always question her credibility on student issues after this. She trusted her children; they did not do the right thing as teenagers are often guilty of. Life goes on.By Mary
February 20, 2008 7:36 AM | Link to this
No, you are not off the mark for saying this could happen to almost any parent, wife, husband, etc. As the saying goes “Therefore, but for the grace of God, go I” or something like that. I felt for the father of the NIU shooter who had cameras stuffed at his face at his home. He was in tears and pointed out he is a diabetic. Of course, his son had also just killed and had just died. There are articles this morning in USA Today about Maria Shriver (wife of the California governor) and Britney Spears meeting and being attacked by the paparazzi (spelling?) and the role of the media in her downward spiral. I do not fault Dayton Daily News for making the Centerville situation and Mrs. Smith frontpage, but maybe I should. I think it important that the public know the culture of schools and its leaders. I admit I am curious why she was coming home at 3 AM, not that it is really my business and if, as implied in one article, the students were athletes. I also wondered if her venture into education issues started in the booster clubs, like so many other board members.By Derwood
February 20, 2008 2:51 AM | Link to this
It will happen to any parent that doesn’t teach their kids about respect and personal responsibility.. Which, in this day and age is a lot of kids. These kids obviously knew that mom was going to be out for an extended period of time, and because they had no respect for her, and because they had no concept of consequences for actions, they threw the party. The fact that they didn’t open the door for police proves they knew that what they were doing was wrong, but didn’t want to have to face up to it and accept responsibility. So, they relied on mom to bail them out. Which mom has probably done for them too many times in the past. Which just futher proves their disrespect for anyone other than themselves. If they were mine, I’d have the police take them right away to the county jail.. Not juvenile hall, but county lockup. So they can see what a difference it is from their privileged cushy home in Centerville. Thats the very least they deserve.. I’d also take away their car, and drivers license at least until graduation and completion of an alcohol abuse program.