Editorial: Should all senior pranks be nixed?

Published 6:26 am Monday, May 21, 2012

The senior prank can be called a traditional rite of passage for soon-to-be graduates, or it can be a destructive action that deserves to be nipped in the bud and the perpetrators punished.

Or it can be a (mostly) harmless prank that turns out to be safe, fun and creative.

But can the nostalgic, time-honored tradition of senior pranks survive in today’s age of zero-tolerance policies and multimillion-dollar lawsuits?

In some places, no. In others, yes. And we’d like to think that in our area some tolerance and leniency would be exercised.

Some districts have no choice but to crack down hard.

This spring in Macon, the keyholes to more than 80 exterior door locks at Howard Middle and High schools were glued shut as part of a senior prank, and repairs will cost about $10,000.

 At Pell City High School in Alabama, police charged eight seniors with criminal mischief for creating a big mess using eggs, flour and fire extinguishers at the school, again costing thousands for cleanup.

These malicious acts cannot compare to the “prank” pulled by Murray County High School seniors recently when they rode toy cars, bicycles and horses from one side of Green Road where the school is located into the school parking lot.

That action got a bunch of students in trouble. Some received in-school suspension and some were threatened with not graduating with their peers.

Safety was cited as the concern by school officials. Green Road in this vicinity is a straight and flat road with a posted 25 mph speed limit and where approaching vehicles can be seen from far off.

Was it the seniors’ intent to be malicious and mean? Hardly. Anyone hurt? No. Was it done in secret without knowledge from any responsible adults? No.

Did Murray school officials overreact? It would seem so. But to look at it from their perspective, at some point a prank could go too far, someone could get hurt, the school could get sued and the administrators could get fired.

If school officials could look at the actions with a more common-sense approach and see them for what they are, harsh actions may not be necessary.

But that sort of toleration may be forever behind us. Those days — and attitudes — may be long over in the wake of school shootings, gang bullying and lawsuits.