An originally sanctioned senior prank at a Texas high school took a destructive turn this week, causing thousands of dollars in damages and forcing the school to cancel classes for the remainder of the academic year.
The approved prank was organized by a small group of students at Frisco’s Memorial High School and involved sticking Post-it notes all over walls. But the stunt turned into a building-wide act of vandalism, school officials said.
The extent of the damage was enough that the high school canceled its last classes on Thursday and Friday as the campus was cleaned, cutting the year short for graduating seniors.
School officials said they plan to make the students responsible for the mess pay for it.
“Damage is estimated in the thousands of dollars and includes paint on the walls, destruction of furniture, discharged fire extinguishers throughout campus and more,” school administrators said in a letter.
“Every surface on the 300,000 sq. ft. campus must be cleaned, including the walls, ceilings and floors. Frisco ISD will hold the students responsible for costs associated with the clean up,” administrators said.
Staff had been at the school to monitor the prank, but once the situation got out of control, they called police and the fire department.
Video shared on social media shows plumes of white fog from fire extinguishers filling a vandalized cafeteria as other students filmed the chaos. No one was injured, officials said.
The school is working with the police department to identify those involved. They could potentially face criminal charges.
“It was another level of embarrassment for me because I was expecting just to go to school the next day and sticky notes be everywhere,” senior Katelynn Mabrey said.
She said she’s disappointed that she won’t get to see her favorite teachers in the building as a student again.
“They canceled school because of everything that happened. And now, I don’t get to see those teachers that were a big part of my life,” Katelynn said. “And it’s just it’s not funny. It’s not cool. It’s just sad.”
The high school’s graduation ceremony scheduled for Friday is expected to carry on as planned.
How can they hold students responsible for the stupid prank if it was approved by the school and overseen by teachers and administrators? Why didn’t those in charge stop the destruction when it started getting out of hand? Sounds like a complete failure on the part of the “adults” to me and some childish students.
Just another example of piss poor parental upbringing. Let’s not hold these morons accountable for their actions, Let’s just blame someone else. I hope the school charges them for the damages and if they are not of legal age then charge their parents. Maybe you should have taught them right from wrong when you had the chance. They didn’t have permission to vandalize anything.