Dozens of students under investigation for damaging school as part of senior prank
UNION, Ky. (WKRC) - Dozens of students at a local school are under investigation by police after a senior prank.
The students broke into Ryle High School after hours on Tuesday night and caused damage throughout the building.
Staff, faculty, and maintenance workers had to clean up for hours Wednesday morning so the school day could start on time. Some of them were injured in the process, according to a release from Boone County Schools.
"As with any incident of significant student misbehavior, we are investigating the matter, following our Code of Conduct, and issuing appropriate consequences to students," the statement said. "The students’ parents have been notified and the district is implementing an appropriate plan of disciplinary action."
The school district is not sharing much about how exactly staff were injured during cleanup, but word got around quickly among students.
“I heard that a teacher going up the steps to their classroom fell,” said Jacob Savage.
On Friday afternoon, there was still toilet paper in the trees, which, some students tell Local 12, was part of the prank.
“I’m friends with some of the seniors, so they posted about it,” said Ashtyn Wright. “They put baby oils in the hallway and they put track hurdles.”
“By the time I got to school, it was all cleaned up, so you couldn’t really tell other than people talking about it with rumors and stuff,” said Savage.
The Boone County Sheriff’s Office says 75 seniors took part in the prank.
School leaders are not taking the prank lightly. Students were surprised to learn of the police investigation, considering senior pranks happen every year.
"I thought that was pretty crazy, because it was just a senior prank," said Wright. "I mean, it might have been a little trespassing and vandalism, but they do it every year."
I was shocked 'cause I heard that they do it every year and I didn’t realize that this year was that much worse,” said Savage. “Apparently, they took it a little too far, I guess, with people, teachers getting hurt, too.
Wright says some of the seniors she knows who took part in the prank were suspended for the remainder of the last day of school.
Ryle High School's graduation is June 3. More than 70 students face the threat of not participating over the damage. That's almost a fifth of the senior class.
District leaders have not explicitly said yet if the students involved will be allowed to walk.
Boone County investigators met with administrators on Thursday, but have not filed charges at this point.
