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MADISONVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — One hundred Sequoyah High School seniors are not being allowed to graduate and a school resource officer has been fired after a senior prank got out of control.
WVLT-TV reports (http://bit.ly/1c6eWaA) the prank was organized by a group of students on social media who showed up around midnight on Thursday with glitter, balloons, toilet paper and fishing wire.
Officer James Fisher let the students in the building but then left, according to a statement from Monroe County Sheriff Tommy Jones.
Meanwhile, more and more students arrived. Some began overturning garbage cans, stealing from lockers and destroying property. Students say some people urinated on the walls and put ketchup and baby oil on them. Others released crickets and chickens in the hallways and left a dead possum in the building.
The district originally told the students they would have to do community service, but superintendent Tim Blankenship announced Friday afternoon anyone involved in the prank would be blocked from graduating.
Some students who say they didn't participate in the destruction told the station that punishing everyone who was in the building is not fair.
"I don't think my graduation should be taken away," Shania Woods said. "They have surveillance video of the people who did this."
Woods said she left the building before any of the vandalism occurred.
The Monroe County Sheriff's Department is working with Monroe County School leaders to investigate whether any other adults were involved. The statement from Sheriff Jones says the school had three workman's compensation claims from teachers as a result of the prank.
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Information from: WVLT-TV, http://www.volunteertv.com/
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