Beach towns conduct YouTube and Twitter campaigns advertising alcohol-free events, fearing the damage and danger that can come during high school’s version of college spring break. Still, Sgt. Clifford Dempsey, a Dewey Beach police officer, said that during Beach Week, “it’s very, very rare we ever handle a party or disturbance complaint that doesn’t involve alcohol.”

The role of alcohol during the post-graduation celebration surfaced last week after published photos showed Gansler, a Democratic candidate for governor, amid a throng of teenagers at a June party in South Bethany, Del.

At a news conference Thursday after the first photo was published in the Baltimore Sun, Gansler said he “probably should have assumed there was drinking” and should have talked to the parent chaperon on duty.

Gansler declined media interviews Friday but fulfilled a previous commitment Saturday to appear on a WJFK-FM radio show.

“You have a bad day here, you have a good day there, but you know, this was a rough week, the character assassination and all that kind of stuff,” said Gansler, a former Montgomery County state’s attorney. “There are definitely people who don’t want me to become governor, and you have to sort of ask yourself why that would be.”

Gansler’s son was one of about a dozen new graduates of the Landon School in Bethesda who were staying in a six-bedroom rental home in South Bethany. Leading up to the week-long celebration, parents made extensive plans to monitor their children’s behavior and ensure that the house stayed clean. They also were clearly concerned about underage drinking and other safety issues.

E-mails obtained by The Washington Post, which included Gansler’s e-mail address at the attorney general’s office, had a chaperon schedule that listed two to four names for each night of the teens’ six-day stay. A “Doug” is listed as a parent chaperon for the first two nights — Saturday and Sunday. For Thursday night, the night of the party, the single name listed is not Gansler’s, and his spokesman said he did not fill any chaperon shifts.

A document titled “2013 Beach Week Rules — Final” listed 13 rules. They included a 1 a.m. curfew, no swimming after dark, no driving, no girls in bedrooms. Rule No. 7: “No hard liquor or controlled substances may be consumed.” The list said nothing about beer or wine.

One of the parents, who spoke on the condition of anonymity about the socially delicate situation, said the adults also duct-taped a back gate closed, monitored the single entrance, took away the boys’ car keys, checked for liquor and drugs, and sealed off a veranda to keep the noise down and prevent anyone from falling off.