<p>Since most of you on here are very involved parents of highly responsible students, you may not consider this an issue. The fact remains that they are still teenagers and many are likely to develop senioritis about now. It may be a good time to remind them to use caution about becoming involved in the tradition of senior pranks. They are a rite of passage in many communities. Most of them are innocent and funny. Too many times, terrific kids from great parents get caught up in innocent pranks that go wrong as others become involved and things get carried away. If you or your student doesn’t need this warning, that is great. However, in our home state a group of 30 to 40 kids have recently been arrested for a prank gone wrong. The class valedictorian is among the group now facing multiple felonies after an initially harmless prank got out of hand involving spray paint. With the downturn in the economy, school districts cannot turn a blind eye to destruction of property any longer at the expense of the taxpayer. I have seen good kids be arrested, miss graduation, and lose scholarships. It is sad for both students and parents. Otherwise smart, responsible kids will often become caught up without realizing how quickly it can get out of hand. Better safe than sorry. Our D never got into a single bit of trouble in school, but we still took the time to talk with her. We were very happy we did.</p>
<p>If you haven’t already, you might want to post this in the Parents Forum as well. A very timely reminder!</p>
<p>Would you believe I’ve never been there? I’ll try to figure it out.</p>
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<p>Posted. Thanks.</p>
<p>It’s kind of sad when schools have to really punish these otherwise good kids for a moment of crazy madness. </p>
<p>You’d think they could give them 8 Saturdays of working clean-up in the school or something.</p>
<p>It is a sad situation for all involved. If the kids had left it at painting the road that is likely what would have happened. When so many became involved it got out of hand. The kids painted cars and other vehicles, buildings, private property, and other items in a large area on campus and the surrounding residential area and were caught on camera. Some of it was pretty vulgar and offensive. It appears the extent of the damage was very costly and more than could be ignored. Not all of the kids may have participated in all of the vandalism, but that’s what kids need to understand. If one participates in a prank like this, especially with the rise in social media, it can quickly get out of hand and the group mentality takes over. It becomes difficult to separate individual actions at that point. We’ve had some pretty funny senior pranks that were harmless at our school. Unfortunately, the need to top the prank from the year before often sends them over the top. This incident didn’t happen in our district so I don’t have firsthand knowledge of any involved. My post is based upon news reports showing video of the incident and interviews with some who were involved. I’m guessing they all wish they hadn’t taken part in it now. Maybe someone else can learn from their situation.</p>
<p>A couple of years ago, some of the drama seniors from my D’s school decided to stage a kidnapping of a girl leaving a Walmart for a YouTube video. She walked out and they pulled up in a van and grabbed her. They were filming it for Youtube, not trying to prank the public. But someone called 911, Walmart video was released to the public, and the ‘possible kidnapping’ was a hot news story for a day or two. Then the ‘senior prank’ was the hot news story. One of the boys had a highly-prized admission to a threatre dept in the country, which he was able to retain. </p>
<p>Sometimes they just don’t think ahead far enough! Thanks for the reminder, bamagirls.</p>
<p>You’re right. Kids don’t realize ahead of time that these things get bigger and bigger each time another person joins in and soon it can get out of control. Unfortunately, those with the most to lose end of paying the biggest price.</p>
<p>They also don’t realize that when a group’s activity escalates to a crime, everyone is considered guilty…even those who had no intention of doing anything “criminal.”</p>
<p>The senior class prank was a tradition at my high school, as well. Each senior class would try to be the most unique or clever. It only got out of hand one year while I was attending, and instead of getting the law involved all the students involved were given Saturday school.</p>
<p>dallasbfields- when did you graduate from HS? It was tradition at my HS too. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, I think that the world has become much less tolerant of “typical” HS/ teen behavior, to the point that those teens are being charged as adults despite being under 18.</p>
<p>just saw this on MSN page</p>
<p>[Worst-ever</a> April Fools’ prank locks down neighborhood](<a href=“http://now.msn.com/now/0402-school-shooter-prank.aspx]Worst-ever”>http://now.msn.com/now/0402-school-shooter-prank.aspx)</p>
<p>I thought of this thread when I read this article:</p>
<p>[Senior</a> prank gets Dallas students banned from graduation | wfaa.com Dallas - Fort Worth](<a href=“http://www.wfaa.com/news/education/Students-charged-banned-from-commencement-over-senior-prank-153290255.html]Senior”>http://www.wfaa.com/news/education/Students-charged-banned-from-commencement-over-senior-prank-153290255.html)</p>
<p>Parent Forum?</p>
<p>Thanks for adding that timely link lattelady.:)</p>
<p>Sorry - not in the know. Did not know there was a parent forum. I will look into it</p>
<p>Hey, college boom, look on the left of the threads. Click on where it says parents and then on that page you can also click on parent cafe. Caution…there are some really off topics in there sometimes.:)</p>