Senior prank has students in trouble at Texas high school

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Friday, May 20, 2016
Splendora High School prank
Splendora seniors upset with punishment after high school prank.

SPLENDORA, Texas -- More than 30 high school seniors in Texas have reportedly been punished for an after-hours prank that got seriously out of hand Wednesday night. That punishment could cost the teens precious memories.

"The door was left open for us. So we just walked in and we started to throw balloons everywhere," Maddie Bates tells us. "And we went upstairs and we started to throw down streamers."

Students and parents alike think the punishment is too severe

Bates was one of the seniors that participated in the prank. She recorded video as the group carried the prank out. The group ran when they thought they'd tripped the fire alarm. After running, they came back for a moment.

"Half of us decided to leave. I just went home after that," Maddie Bates said.

When she got to school Thursday, she found out a few stragglers had poured vegetable oil on the stairs and the floor.

That was just the beginning.

"They had a spray bottle of pee and they were spraying it all over doorknobs," Maddie said. "They broke into the counselor's office, they broke into our principal's office and they were trying to steal our graduation medals. And then they got a fire extinguisher out and set off the alarms."

The whole thing was caught on the school's security cameras. Maddie tells Eyewitness News the principal told all seniors involved that they won't be allowed on their senior trip, their senior parade, and worst of all -- they won't be allowed to walk at graduation.

"Because a few kids decided to be stupid, we're all getting punished," Maddie said in frustration.

"I don't think this is just," said her father Kevin Bates.

ABC13 asked Splendora ISD about the punishment for these students. Through a spokesperson, the superintendent said "SISD cannot comment on students' behavior or consequences."

Kevin Bates says he doesn't need a comment. He just needs the district to use some common sense.

"The few that were guilty were guilty. I don't care what he does to them. If it was my daughter and she did that, and it's a felony, then charge her," Kevin Bates said. "But don't prevent 40 kids from walking at graduation."

Kevin Bates says the parents were told to file a grievance with the district and the principal would address each one in 10 days. He says that's not OK because graduation would have come and gone.

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