Damage estimated at $4,500

GUSTINE – A senior class prank spun out of control last week at Gustine High School, where officials are putting the damage estimates from the resulting vandalism and destruction at $4,500 or more.

By the time police broke up the party at about 1:30 a.m. Friday, school officials say, textbooks had been destroyed, a classroom and the front of the school were tagged with gang graffiti and animals were released from the school farm.

One pig suffered a broken leg and had to be destroyed.

Apparently, Police Chief Devon Stavrowsky said Friday, word of the planned prank spread beyond the senior class and “some people who were into malicious destruction joined the party. It got out of hand, and resulted in things that never should have happened.”

Senior pranks are a tradition that some years have even left school administrators chuckling.

But nobody was laughing as they surveyed the appalling damage in the early morning hours Friday.

One classroom had been vandalized, with 30 textbooks and a projection screen destroyed and desks removed.

Syrup was put into door locks and on floors. Manure was spread about campus, the office area was entered, confetti was strewn about and mustard, bleach and ketchup were used to deface the school.

Flour was poured in the air conditioning units and spread around campus.

The damage, school administrators said, reflects the latest in a trend of escalating senior pranks in recent years.

“There comes a point when it is no longer a prank,” commented counselor Mary Lee Hellner. “This isn’t just kids being kids.”

The start of the school day Friday was delayed 30 minutes while staff cleaned up the mess and assessed the damage.

In some cases, the damage could not be simply washed away or items replaced.

Military medals belonging to the teacher whose classroom was broken into were taken, Assistant Principal John Bussard said.

The damages were still being calculated Tuesday.

Officials initially believed that the locks were not damaged by the syrup, Bussard said, but on Tuesday weren’t so sure.

“We have some issues with the locks,” he commented. “The syrup poured into the locks is starting to settle, making them difficult to operate.”

Police and school staff are investigating the incident.

School administrators said Tuesday they were still sorting out the facts and had not determined what discipline will be handed out to students involved. Those alternatives, Bussard said, include financial restitution.

Stavrowksy said he believes 50 to 60 individuals were involved to some degree in the prank.

A neighbor reported a disturbance at the school to police in the early morning hours, and officers were able to break up the incident. Some students were detained for questioning, Stavrowsky said.

The activity, he added, went far beyond the scope of an acceptable practical joke.

“When you get to the point of having to destroy an animal.....people were really incensed,” Stavrowksy stated.

Bussard said the incident was not a random episode or spur-of-the-moment event.

“We have a copy of a mass text message sent out that day (detailing plans for the senior prank),” he said Tuesday. “This was a planned, coordinated event.”