Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California

Re: Should a preschool inform parents if they will be serving alcohol for a publ

I agree that the mixer sounds inappropriate, but normally you would only be able to recover damages if you could show that your child had been harmed in some way by this event or if you and the preschool had a contract which the school breached. Your question does not say anything about harm to your child or a contract with the school, so I don't see any basis for an award of damages.

You might be able to sue for an injunction to prevent the school from holding similar events in the future, but you would have to show that such events are reasonably likely to harm your child. The harm doesn't have to be physical, but it has to involve more than your own personal offense.

A final note: If the school was actually serving alcohol to the public as you say, it probably needed a liquor license. If it didn't have one it may be subject to some penalties, but those would be paid to the state and not to you. It is also possible that there are sections of the Education Code that forbid this sort of thing, but these statutes are also probably enforceable only by the government.

You might try reporting what happened to the school board (if it is a public school) and/or to the state's Department of Education. You can also ask the school if it had a license to serve alcohol; if it did not, you can take up the matter with the state's Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.

Re: Should a preschool inform parents if they will be serving alcohol for a publ

private school? presumably... you should tell them what you think directly, have you done this? Have you considered switching schools?