When senior pranks go bad, shouldn’t students pay price?
Shouldn't East Paulding High school seniors clean up their mess? (Channel 2, Action News)
Every year around this time, news stories start to appear about high school seniors being arrested for vandalism masquerading as pranks. These stories get a lot of play on TV because of the visual aspects.
Given all the news coverage, are there still teens who don’t know that it’s illegal to create thousands of dollars of damage by spray-painting graffiti all over town? Could they not understand that they risk criminal prosecution and that an arrest could complicate their high school graduations, college admissions and scholarships?
Apparently, some East Paulding High School students didn’t understand this. Nineteen were arrested this weekend after a passerby spotted the suspicious activity before daybreak Sunday and called police. The students spray-painted “seniors” and “2012″ on dozens of campus buildings and signs.
The AJC story raises the question of how it was possible for this many Paulding County high school students to be roaming the streets before daybreak.
Where did their parents think they were?
I was disappointed to read that clean-up crews were called out to repair the damage. I would prefer the responsibility fall on those 27 students.
Here is part of the AJC story:
Among the more than 100 places allegedly tagged by the students: buildings, roadways, signs, a county-owned pickup truck and the large brick entranceway to a nearby subdivision.
School officials told Channel 2 that they knew that at least 27 people, mostly students, were involved in the vandalism. So far, 19 have been arrested, Paulding sheriff’s Cpl. Ashley Henson told the AJC.
“The detective that is working the case is still compiling information and explained to me that more arrests are probable,” Henson said Monday.
Clean-up crews spent much of the day Sunday pressure-washing and scrubbing the graffiti off the school property.
“We’ve had senior pranks plenty of times,” East Paulding assistant principal Greg Musgrove told Channel 2, “but nothing to where this much damage has been done.”
–From Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
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147 comments Add your comment
AlreadySheared
March 12th, 2012
11:27 am
When senior pranks go bad, students SHOULD pay the price.
These folks are standing on the cusp of full adulthood: time for the training wheels to come all the way off of “actions have consequences”.
Yes, they should pay
March 12th, 2012
11:28 am
Yes, the students sould pay, literally, wit their time undoing crimes like theirs: removing graffiti from other areas.
Inman Park has a great program. Volunteers literally scrub the graffiti off of the signs and other areas of the neighboroods. These seniors should literally have to remove alll the graffiti they put on and lots more.
Good Mother
carlosgvv
March 12th, 2012
11:28 am
The truth is that teens will say and do things they would never say or do as fully grown adults. That’s just the way it is. Think back to your own teen years if you have any doubts.
catlady
March 12th, 2012
11:33 am
I’d not have the teens clearn it up, but I would really push for having them sentenced in court to some kind of time and community service.
In addition, I would bill the students and their parents for the professional cleanup, and I would strongly enforce the payment prior to graduation.
Why didn’t the parents know where their kids were?
Jimmy62
March 12th, 2012
11:39 am
My senior class, a bunch of the “cool” kids spraypainted our colors and profanity all over the stadium that had been recently repainted to reflect that we were now sharing it with a nearby high school. I don’t remember everything that happened to them, but I do remember all the kids that were found out to be involved got in some serious trouble. Of course the ones they “found out” about confessed, while the jerks just lied and got off scot-free, while all the students knew who was there and who wasn’t. The faculty was too lazy to get the whole story, they just wanted to punish a few people and move on.
Parent
March 12th, 2012
11:42 am
I guess none of you who posted EVER snuck out of the house as teenagers? Seriously doubt they were all at one house at a slumber party. So not surprised parents not aware. I say give them a bucket and a brush and let them clean away. After school and on weekends until it is done. Some Senior pranks are inventive and funny – this is just destructive and stupid.
Native Atlantan
March 12th, 2012
11:43 am
I agree with catlady. Pranks are one thing but this is beyond simple schoolyard pranks. And, carlosgvv,, I normally agree with most of your comments on various boards but disagree on this one. Yes, I pulled pranks when in High School, but I managed not to deface or destroy property.
still trying
March 12th, 2012
11:44 am
Make them clean it or don’t let them march. My guess is the parents would hand them buckets and brushes on their way out the door with a boot and a wave.
Andre
March 12th, 2012
11:45 am
This is a school prank that just got out of hand. And unfortunately I feel they should pay the price. Get some orange vest, buckets, brushes, soap and water and get to work. They should still be able to graduate, walk at graduation. Just clean up their mess.
Ashley
March 12th, 2012
11:45 am
Yes we had senior pranks but, nothing compared to this. If we had cause this much damage you better believe if caught the student(s) would be cleaning it up and the parents would probably have to foot the bill. I am going out on a limb by asking don’t these kids have a curfew? What type of kids are roaming the street before daybreak on Sunday morning? I’m sure there will be a lot of opinions posted like….were’nt you a teenager once or they’re good kids who made a mistake, you know the usual excuses.
a_mom
March 12th, 2012
11:46 am
I think that anything that can be cleaned up by them should definitely be done by the teens! Let them spend every afternoon & Saturdays scrubbing off the paint & it would make an impression on them and their peers. Those things they can’t do (like paint job for vehicles) should be billed to them. If they say they can’t afford it, then put them to work doing janitorial work at the school. To miss hanging out with their friends during senior year while they scrub off paint (& possibly clean toilets at school if they need to “work it off”) would be a more constructive punishment than giving them a criminal record. I guarantee that they & their classmates would think long and hard before doing something stupid like this again. And withhold their diplomas until all cleanup & bills are resolved for some really good incentive.
Denise
March 12th, 2012
11:48 am
Make them pay or clean up. Kids today have no consequences for their actions. This was a destructive act of vandalism….not a harmless prank. I can’t afford to have my house repainted– why paint on cars and houses? Disgusting.
bill
March 12th, 2012
11:48 am
why are we asking if they should pay? of course they SHOULD pay. the kids should pay AND their parents should pay. making them pay would set the correct example and make them accountable for their poor decision making.
Not In My Neighborhood
March 12th, 2012
11:49 am
It could not have happened to a better school….and a better group of people.
SBinF
March 12th, 2012
11:49 am
I wonder how coverage and opinions of this story would be different if this “prank” had been pulled off by students at an inner city school. Seriously not trolling, it just seems that when stuff like this happens in the ‘burbs its a few poor wayward students who got carried away. Similar action by students in a more depressed area and they are a bunch of crime-committing miscreants.
Thoughts?
Maureen Downey
March 12th, 2012
11:55 am
@Already Sheared.
It’s interesting that you raise the point that these kids are nearing adulthood. (If they are 18, they are legally there.)
The AJC debated whether to use the arrest mugshots of these kids, all 19 of them, online. But editors made the decision not to use their photos under the rationale they are teenagers doing the idiotic stunts teens do.
What I would like to point out for discussion purposes is that these kids likely caused as much expense to the county and schools as would peers who broke into the school and stole 10 computers. Perhaps, even more given the scope of their vandalism.
Yet, somehow we have a much more benign view of their actions and of them. We excuse what they do by their youth.
To quote Zeke from a post today on the discipline disparities blog, “Minorities suspended or expelled at a disproportionate rate?? Have these fools been ignoring the news? Look at news reports! Who is committing the crimes? Enough said!”
But it is more than an issue of who is committing the crimes. It is how we treat young offenders, especially first-time offenders. Do we set them down the prison pipeline or divert them?
I had a stint in my career covering juvenile justice, and I saw great disparities in how kids were treated based on whether their families hired lawyers and whether their families were considered “upstanding.”
To quote Zeke one more time, “Enough said.”
Maureen
Ron F.
March 12th, 2012
11:56 am
Since they’re facing criminal charges, I’d say the school has a lot of bargaining power at this point. The kids themselves need to scrub and repaint what they can and either work off or pony up some cash for what has to be sandblasted or professionally painted. We did pranks as kids too, but I don’t remember anything that couldn’t be cleaned pretty easily (even the AP’s yard that was TP’d a few times).
SB- you’re probably right- suburban kids can get away with more. It’s amazing what money and dress can do for you.
SoGAVet
March 12th, 2012
11:56 am
Clean it up because graffiti doesn’t get better with age. Then present the bill, with some added penalty tacked on, to the students. Hold their diploma until they pay. Penalties like school suspension and jail time are a waste of taxpayer money.
Greta
March 12th, 2012
11:58 am
I don’t blame the parents for this, nor do I think the parents should be penalized. Many of these Seniors are 18-year-old, anyway. Make them scrub until their fingers fall off. It will be a lesson that their fellow schoolmates will learn from, as well.
@ Catlady: Try as they might, it is naiive to think that parents will know where their teenaged children are at all times. Are you serious? You do know that kids lie, right?
Andy Wilburn
March 12th, 2012
11:59 am
@catlady you want suspend graduation over a senior prank come on that’s a right of passage. We need to fix education inside the classroom at the local level. But not letting a great student/kid not graduate because he/she welded pennies to Locked school doors to prevent having school on time ( my senior prank) is rediculous….go tell your cats what to do…..love how everyone in education hides behind fake names on here
Courtney
March 12th, 2012
12:01 pm
They should pay to clean it up. No criminal charges, but they should pay for being dumb enough to get caught.
Ron F.
March 12th, 2012
12:01 pm
Maureen: reputation plays a huge role, I’d say. I see it in my rural county. The athletes and kids with well-known parents get away with a lot more than the poor kids.
The charges here could be pretty serious. But let’s face it- the DA won’t take it before a jury. The hope is that the parents, kids, and attorneys if they hire one will get a plea bargain. They’ll get a good slap on the hand: a fine, a lecture, and probably some community service. The ones who have to worry are those that are on probation or have a few charges on their record.
Tag
March 12th, 2012
12:03 pm
Why not?????????????
Hmmmmmmm
March 12th, 2012
12:03 pm
Is this REALLY a question that needs any debate….! It’s NO wonder the kids today are basically worthless…..
Maureen Downey
March 12th, 2012
12:05 pm
@Parent, I have had several neighbors who hosted slumber parties where kids did leave in the middle of the night, sometimes for something as silly as a walk to a grocery store to buy more chips. (In that case, the police picked up the 13-year-old boys en route to the store at 3 a.m. and returned them.)
So, I make it clear to my kids and any friend sleeping over that I have turned on the alarm and, if they open any doors to the outside, the alarm will not only cause my husband to bolt out of bed and grab his trusty Louisville Slugger bat, it will set the dog to barking madly and bring the police to our door.
So far, no one has ever tried to sneak out.
Maureen
Chicagojeff
March 12th, 2012
12:05 pm
No Maureen.. they shouldn’t have cleaned it up..that would simply mitigate the incident into being kids being kids.. This is a criminal offense.. Let’s see if the “authorities” have the guts to actually hold the perps to the fire..
Chess
March 12th, 2012
12:06 pm
White Kids = School “Prank”
Black Kids = Thug Vandalism
George
March 12th, 2012
12:09 pm
Wow people it is a dam crime keep all the rules the same .Either pay now and slap their hands or the crime will grow.It could be your head next time bye now.
Taxi Smith
March 12th, 2012
12:11 pm
First of all, the teenage brain does not calculate consequences, nor even the idea of “getting caught.” They are fearless. (Which is why they make good soldiers, by the way.) As for what we as adults should do: first, you can’t wait for the courts to act, so making them clean up themselves in unrealistic (you’d have lawyers all over the place.) What can be done is relatively simple: don’t let them participate in graduation. This will send a lesson to the Class of 2013. Naturally, this will also bring out the lawyers, but they have to have something to do.
Mark
March 12th, 2012
12:12 pm
What a silly question. Did they commit a crime? Yes, they did. So criminal charges should apply. The punishment should include time served in community service in addition to making restitution for a profession cleanup and repair of the damaged property.
A “great student” would not have done this.
As for the AJC running the photos, they are adults charged with a crime. I see those photos published all the time. Why should these adults get treated differently?
Kenny
March 12th, 2012
12:12 pm
Thanks for dealing in Chess..
Hmmmmmmm
March 12th, 2012
12:12 pm
@Chess
NO matter what color your skin… It requires punishment… Period… But hey, in this day and time we have noodle necks as administrators, and parents who should have never had kids….
JRev
March 12th, 2012
12:12 pm
This is easy. They messed up badly, but most likely their parents don’t deserve to pay a huge bill for this. What they need to do is figure out how much the damage is, and then require them to work off the debt by doing janitorial services for the school during the summer (paid off at the rate of minimum wage). Oh, and also they should be suspended and not be able to participate in ANY school activities (sports, graduation, prom, etc.). Expulsion would be overkill for such a non-violent crime. I did stupid stuff as a kid too and turned out to be a good adult and these kids will too most likely. But, they need to learn their lesson.
Hillbilly D
March 12th, 2012
12:13 pm
When senior pranks go bad, shouldn’t students pay price?
Yes, they should. As for them being “kids”, it’s only been a generation or two before mine, that 15 and 16 year olds were working for a living and already handling many adult responsibilities. Only 1 generation before mine 18 year olds (and some 16 & 17 year olds who had lied about their age) were in the Pacific and European theatres. We do people no favors when we make excuses for them. Stop coddling them and let them face the music. A lesson learned the hard way is a lesson well learned.
keith the teeth
March 12th, 2012
12:16 pm
Spray painting is vandalism, not a “prank”. All senior classes do pranks, but usually they are cool and funny. Spray painting indicates a lack of creativity. There are plenty of other things that can be done without causing property damage. You want people to be laughing not becoming angry. They must have thrown this idea together at the last minute.
Greg Kaiser
March 12th, 2012
12:17 pm
I think that the authorities are taking the appropriate steps here. The students have been charged with felonies, but that almost certainly will be pled down to misdemeanor charges, after the students have been given an appropriate amount of time to “sweat it out.” I imagine that they will be assigned a good deal of community service and hopefully significant fines, and that the school will also assign consequences, with their graduation status contingent upon acceptance and successful completion of said consequences. This is what should happen, in my opinion. It will be interesting to see if this is the case.
For some to dismiss this as a simple “right of passage” seems just ludicrous. I can’t even beging to imagine why 25+ young adults thought this was a good idea, or that this would qualify as a harmless prank. The thought process involved in reaching that conclusion is baffling.
Ron F.
March 12th, 2012
12:18 pm
Maureen- make sure you have window sensors. My oldest hasn’t done it, but he let me know that he could sneak out or sneak a girl in his bedroom window if his room wasn’t right across the hall from mine. I sleep with my door open…just in case!
Lori
March 12th, 2012
12:22 pm
Heck yeah, they should pay the price. Sucks that “crews” were cleaning it up. I agree that the teens involved should have to clean it up, or at least perform other community service equal to the amount of damage they did, to cover the cost of the cleanup. They should have to perform all of this service before their graduation date, or not be allowed to walk. Every school has pranksters, but there are plenty of ways to “prank” that are good, clean fun that don’t involve property damage!!
oldtimer
March 12th, 2012
12:24 pm
There should be restitution for the damage already cleaned up and the students should have to finance the rest of the clean up. But, most of the parents will pay..not the kids. Therefore…hours of community service….lots of it. If they stay in good graces with the law for two or three years their records should be sealed. After all even at 18 judgement is not great.
When we lived in TN first offender status could be fixed with good behavior and time.
And Maureen, the alarm system worked for us, also. The beep alone allerted us to opening doors and windows.
Cobb Mom of 4
March 12th, 2012
12:24 pm
I hope that the inner city youth in the SWAT schools (Carver, Mays, etc) don’t get the idea that this is an acceptable prank with minimal consequences… Then the headlines will read “Gang mob of black youths, dressed in gang attire, terrorized their neighborhood, schools and government property. Riot police called out, so far only 4 were killed….Film at 11.”
Jimmy Jam
March 12th, 2012
12:25 pm
If guilty, I would not allow any of them to walk across stage, give them what they have earned, a Diploma by mail. Walking across the stage is a privilege, not a right and they have not earned that privilege. Oh and by the way, send the parents the bill..
Not Disappointed
March 12th, 2012
12:32 pm
:Not Disappointed is my sports blogger name of AJC! This isn’t how I feel in reference to this kids and E Pauling High School.
That being said, ‘I do believe these kids should be punish but don’t give them a felony record. This offense my be a lesson for a lifetime! I graduated in 1983 and a bunch of us threw toilet paper in the trees, trashed the hall ways, etc. When they found out who did it ,they work the crap out of us for 3 days. Made us eat lunch at the County Jail, etc. It was nothing nice for sure. To this day only 1 out of the 52 kids have a record. This kids are young, wreckless, and made a stupid mistake! Don’t ruin opportuinities for the future!
Fred
March 12th, 2012
12:43 pm
Chess, you are correct with the fact that no one has called these students thugs yet when events like this happen at high minority schools, name calling takes over. There was a blog about this on 12/17/2011 about the food fight incident at Arabia Mountain (several guilty parties were expelled from school and arrests were made). It wasn’t as bad as some made it out to be but it does not excuse what the students did. That blog along with the comments can be found at,
http://blogs.ajc.com/get-schooled-blog/2011/12/17/melee-at-arabia-mountain-high-turn-up-thursday-and-twitter-turn-dekalb-school-into-a-mess/?cp=all#comments
Students do dumb things, always have and always will. Dumb things are not limited to the color of the student. The punishments given may have more to do with the wealth or connections of the students and parents more than anything else.
MikeyD
March 12th, 2012
12:50 pm
@Andy Wilburn
If you welded coins to the locks of your school’s door, then you were as much of a vandal as these students. Do you think something like that could be fixed for free?
Everyone has senior prank stories, but few reach this far into the criminal realm. At my high school, we had the “Senior Tree” that got rolled every spring prior to graduation. Original? Probably not. Criminal? Hardly. These ridiculous pranks keep escalating because no one has the backbone to stand up and say “Enough!” I don’t know what an appropriate punishment is, but I hope these little hoodlums get more than a slap on the wrist.
Sandra
March 12th, 2012
12:53 pm
I take exception with calling this destruction “a prank.” If anyone other than students had been involved, it would be called “vandalism” or “criminal damage to property.” Call it what it is and deal with the miscreants accordingly. My parents taught me to respect property, my own or others, private or public. And had I been involved in something like this, my parents would have let me sit in jail for a while to get the message. I don’t even want to think about what would have happened when I did get home!
Erik Johnson
March 12th, 2012
12:55 pm
Exact same thing happened in my HS back in WA (except the graffiti said “2002″). There were about a dozen of them. None of them were allowed to walk at graduation. They got their diploma by mail. They also had misdemeanor charges and had to pay restitution. That was 10 years ago. I suspect today they will get a slap on the wrist so they do not get their feelings hurt.
Let’s see if Pauling County has some will or will bend to the parents.
GtMom
March 12th, 2012
1:10 pm
My first grader had the nerve to flood a toliet this past year. He had just read it in one of those silly books – Captain Underpants. Anyway, he got caught. His prinicipal made him pick up trash in the school yard for about 2 hours the next day. She would have made him clean the bathroom but was worried about a first grader handling chemicals or sanitation. I, on the otherhand, had no problem making him clean toliets for the next month. Kids do stupid things.. and they should learn consequences from doing stupid things. I told my first grader he was very lucky he didn’t have the cops called on him for defacing property. I wonder why he wasn’t hungry that evening?
Voice of Reason
March 12th, 2012
1:10 pm
Seriously? You all are debating whether or not these kids should clean the mess or walk at graduation? Am I the only one who noticed that they are all being charged as adults with a felony. Am I the only one who is aware of the LIFELONG consequences of getting a felony. Should these kids still be paying for this stupid mistake at the age of 40?? Of course not. Yes, it was stupid and destructive but these people need to relax. This is nothing a little community service and fixing their mess won’t fix. Don’t ruin 19 kids lives for one dumb move.
I won’t even go into the irony of charging them as adults then demanding their parents be held accountable and foot the bill. The legal system is so drastic now because people who are ignorant of the consequences of such an attitude all want to be “tough on crime”. Of course, this is ineffective and expensive but that is another topic. Onward toward a total police state we march..
Dr. Craig Spinks/Georgians for Educational Excellence
March 12th, 2012
1:10 pm
Yes, ma’am, they should.
MountainDawg
March 12th, 2012
1:16 pm
Make these sn0t-nose punks pay restitution and do community service. Spray painting isn’t a “prank”, but vandalism.