Swampscott mom to face charges for giving teens liquor

SWAMPSCOTT – A mother was charged for providing alcohol to minors and some Big Blue athletes are wrestling with consequences of underage alcohol use, which followed on the heels of the Big Blue football team Super Bowl win.Detective Sgt. Tim Cassidy said Mary Foresta, 163 Puritan Ave., was charged under the social host responsibility law for providing alcohol to minors and three juveniles were summoned to court in connection with the incident.Cassidy said the party occurred Saturday, Dec. 1 and police received a call after the fact informing them photographs had been posted on Facebook.com of minors drinking alcohol.”We learned someone posted pictures of youths consuming alcohol at the Foresta residence on Facebook,” he said. “The mother (Foresta) was in the picture and we identified nine kids in the photograph. We launched an investigation and interviewed the kids.”Cassidy said Foresta would be in Lynn District Court sometime in January.”Parents and children have to realize we take this seriously,” he said. “Underage drinking is not a joke and we’re not going to look the other way.”The Swampscott Big Blue football team won the EMass Div. 3 Super Bowl earlier that day. The Big Blue dominated the Medfield Warriors at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, 22-6. It has been a long wait for the title, 35 years. Unfortunately some athletes chose to celebrate with underage drinking parties, which resulted in court summons and affected some athletes eligibility to participate in sports.Athletic Director Frank Kowalski said the majority of the team was not at the party but the school and athletic department are very disappointed some athletes chose to attend an event where alcohol was being served.”The coaching staff told the athletes to celebrate the victory appropriately,” he said. “We are very disappointed in the behavior of the athletes involved but the coaching staff is pleased at the decision made by the majority of the team not to participate in these types of activities.”Superintendent Matthew Malone said the district will not tolerate drugs and underage drinking.”We’re not going to say kids will be kids,” he said. “We’re not going to look the other way and sweep things under the rug. Enough is enough. Our message has been consistent.”Malone declined to discuss specific students but said the discipline handed out was in accordance with the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association guidelines, the district athletic policy and student handbook.”Under my administration we’ve been firm and consistent in dealing with these situations,” Malone said. “Everyone gets the same consequence and we believe justice was handed out appropriately.”This is not the first incident this academic year involving athletes and alcohol. In September at least 11 Swampscott High School athletes were suspended from athletic competition for using alcohol and/or drugs including a captain of the girl’s soccer team.The district has an alcohol/drug policy in place that is stricter than the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association guidelines.School Committee Chairman David Whelan declined to comment on the incident except to say it was an administrative matter.”It has been handled appropriately by the administration,” he said.According to the policy, a team captain who violates the substance abuse policy would be removed as captain. Any first time violator of the policy would lose eligibility to compete for the next consecutive interscholastic contests totaling 25% of all interscholastic contests in that sport. If there were second violation of the substance abuse policy, a student would lose eligibility to compete for the next consecutive interscholastic contests totaling 60% of all interscholastic contests in that sport. If the penalty period is not completed during the season of violation, the penalty shall carry over to the student’s next season of actual participation, which may affect the eligibility status of the student during the next acad