RCA Calls upon Families to Supervise Teenagers on Vacation

Calls upon Orthodox parents to ensure adult supervision of teenagers on vacation.

Recent media attention has been drawn to the conduct of Yeshiva high school students who travel to various vacation sites for lengthy periods of time during the winter break without any parental supervision. We are all too well aware of what has regrettably taken place at social gatherings of such students when adults are not in attendance; the potential for improprieties when adolescent children are left on their own away from home for longer periods of time is obvious. While it would be optimal if our high school students could be trusted to avoid the excesses that mark the manner in which their peers in the general population, particularly college students, traditionally conduct themselves in these venues, it is clear that the illicit temptations of such venues are often too great for individuals to resist. We call upon every Orthodox family to insist that vacations be spent either together or in contexts where adult supervision can assure that appropriate conduct takes place throughout.