Schools scrambling to rein in senior prank season
April 18, 2005
BY MAUREEN O'DONNELL Staff Reporter
Spring is senior prank season -- a time of year when school administrators sweat.
All over the Chicago area, schools are warning students that their actions in the last days of high school can affect their lives forever.
The message has special resonance in St. Charles, where police Sgt. Dan Figgins, 53, collapsed and died earlier this month after chasing a suspect in a break-in at St. Charles East High School. That youth and four other seniors are accused of trying to steal a school golf cart in a prank.
As they have done for years, officials at St. Charles East had drafted a letter warning pupils pranks would not be tolerated.
It was originally set to be mailed April 26 but "may have gone out ahead of time'' in response to the tragedy, said Tom Hernandez, a spokesman for St. Charles Community Unit School District 303.
The principal of St. Charles North High School sent letters earlier this month.
"They were trying to break in and steal school property. That's not playful,'' Hernandez said. "That's criminal.''
"This thing with the golf cart had been done before.... I don't know if the kids were considering it traditional, or whatever their thinking was.''
The students have already been dealt consequences. They face criminal charges in the incident. The district does not discuss specific disciplinary matters, Hernandez said.
'Dumb thing'
A senior prank at New Trier High School in 2000 caught the attention of MTV.
Students stole a master key -- which officials said opened a handful of doors on the Winnetka campus -- made 600 copies and sent some to students, along with a letter telling them the keys would open the outer doors.
"Good kids who did a dumb thing,'' was how then-Principal Wes Baumann put it.
New Trier Township High School District 203 sends a letter to seniors, said Supt. Henry Bangser, "making sure they know how important it is to end the year with the same type of grace they always exhibited during the course of the year.''
In 2001, in another senior prank, New Trier suspended several girls for driving past the school topless.
Balancing 'Stand,' 'Bueller'
At Skokie's Niles North High School last year, a senior prankster tried to auction the school on eBay.
"They can create humor, but not at the expense of another human being, or great expense,'' said Neil Codell, superintendent of Niles Township High Schools District 219.
"Life has the beauty and emotion of the movie 'Stand and Deliver,' but it also has the humor of 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off,' and we try to find the balance,'' Codell said.
Highland Park High School's Web site warns seniors to behave as graduation approaches.
With administrative permission, playful pranks might be tolerated, said Highland Park High Principal John A. Lorenz. For example, if students told school officials, "'We'd like to fill the dean's office with balloons,'" he said, "we let them.''
April 18, 2005
BY MAUREEN O'DONNELL Staff Reporter
Spring is senior prank season -- a time of year when school administrators sweat.
All over the Chicago area, schools are warning students that their actions in the last days of high school can affect their lives forever.
The message has special resonance in St. Charles, where police Sgt. Dan Figgins, 53, collapsed and died earlier this month after chasing a suspect in a break-in at St. Charles East High School. That youth and four other seniors are accused of trying to steal a school golf cart in a prank.
As they have done for years, officials at St. Charles East had drafted a letter warning pupils pranks would not be tolerated.
It was originally set to be mailed April 26 but "may have gone out ahead of time'' in response to the tragedy, said Tom Hernandez, a spokesman for St. Charles Community Unit School District 303.
The principal of St. Charles North High School sent letters earlier this month.
"They were trying to break in and steal school property. That's not playful,'' Hernandez said. "That's criminal.''
"This thing with the golf cart had been done before.... I don't know if the kids were considering it traditional, or whatever their thinking was.''
The students have already been dealt consequences. They face criminal charges in the incident. The district does not discuss specific disciplinary matters, Hernandez said.
'Dumb thing'
A senior prank at New Trier High School in 2000 caught the attention of MTV.
Students stole a master key -- which officials said opened a handful of doors on the Winnetka campus -- made 600 copies and sent some to students, along with a letter telling them the keys would open the outer doors.
"Good kids who did a dumb thing,'' was how then-Principal Wes Baumann put it.
New Trier Township High School District 203 sends a letter to seniors, said Supt. Henry Bangser, "making sure they know how important it is to end the year with the same type of grace they always exhibited during the course of the year.''
In 2001, in another senior prank, New Trier suspended several girls for driving past the school topless.
Balancing 'Stand,' 'Bueller'
At Skokie's Niles North High School last year, a senior prankster tried to auction the school on eBay.
"They can create humor, but not at the expense of another human being, or great expense,'' said Neil Codell, superintendent of Niles Township High Schools District 219.
"Life has the beauty and emotion of the movie 'Stand and Deliver,' but it also has the humor of 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off,' and we try to find the balance,'' Codell said.
Highland Park High School's Web site warns seniors to behave as graduation approaches.
With administrative permission, playful pranks might be tolerated, said Highland Park High Principal John A. Lorenz. For example, if students told school officials, "'We'd like to fill the dean's office with balloons,'" he said, "we let them.''
