Questions over prohibition of alcohol at Auburn’s only public school continue to be raised after the School Board’s recent decision left one local charity without a place to hold its popular open-bar dances.

On June 10, the Auburn School Board voted 4-1 on a policy revision which bars alcohol from being inside Auburn Village School, mirroring a policy that was set in place years ago regarding cigarette smoking.

Local policy had previously allowed alcohol to be served in the school gymnasium after 7 p.m. on Saturdays if no minors were present at the event.

Norm Bouley, head of the Auburn-Candia Lions Club, said the new policy curtails much of his group’s fundraising endeavors in town, including the openbar dances in the school’s gym, which Bouley said have been taking place for nearly 40 years without incident.

While School Administrative Unit 15 Superintendent Dr. Charles “Phil” Littlefield and School Board Chairman Elaine Hobbs say the prohibition decision has children’s interests at heart, Bouley said the gymnasium -- as Auburn’s only large place for the community to gather -- falls under the jurisdiction of the community at large.

“There’s no negative effect on children if we hold a dance here, with alcohol, on a Saturday night when there’s no children around,” Bouley said on June 12. “A lot of people have been telling us that the gym was built to be used by the community ... and we’re investigating all avenues to regain use of that building.”

The board’s decision comes in the wake of an April incident in which a Manchester resident allegedly fell asleep during an April Lions Club dance and then awoke hours later, believing himself to be locked inside the building. Auburn police say Michael Coakley allegedly ran instead of asking to be let out of the building after being spotted by police, and he was charged with two counts of criminal mischief. His trial is scheduled for Aug. 6.

Although the Lions Club and any other nonprofit group can still use the school’s gymnasium as long as they adhere to the alcohol-free policy, Bouley said alcohol has traditionally been a part of many of the Lions community fundraisers. But during the June 10 meeting, Hobbs and School Board member Robert Hayes said they’d long been thinking about whether or not it is appropriate to have alcohol in the building, and Littlefield later said that he and other school officials need to have a narrow focus when considering the welfare of children.

“This has been a policy that we’ve grappled with as a board for seven years ... and it seems to me that for 39 years, or even 10 years, the philosophy behind alcohol use in a public building is something that does not sit well,” Hayes said. “Alcohol does not belong in a public school.” “I’m an advocate for children -- I have blinders,” Littlefield said. “We don’t teach children how to ‘drink responsibly,’ we teach them about the health issues surrounding alcohol. I don’t believe alcohol and kids mix.”

Ultimately, board member Alan Villeneuve was the only one to speak out against the board’s policy change on June 10, and he branded the move as a “prohibitionist” gesture that did little to recognize the AVS gym as a community center.

“This was put up as a community facility,” he said. “I don’t think (the policy change) tells anyone in our community about the proper place for alcohol ... and I don’t believe that’s the way to go.”

On June 12, Hobbs reiterated her earlier sentiments that the policy change is not a punitive measure toward the Lions or anyone else, stating that it is a “philosophical change” that came about after a consideration of what is in the best interests of children. But Bouley said the children his group provides for -- the Lions have given two pairs of eyeglasses and a Braille reader, among other things, to AVS students in recent years -- may be the ones who lose out in the end.

Without the dances, Bouley said his group’s losses could top $10,000 annually.

“We may have to move things to Manchester, because there’s nothing available in the area, but what we’re looking at right now is if they (the School Board) really do have the right to regulate it,” he said. “We’re going to explore all the avenues.”