11 students at Wetumpka High School vandalize school during senior prank
11 students will not be allowed to walk during graduation Tuesday night after vandalizing an Elmore County school as part of a senior prank.
Elmore County Superintendent Richard Dennis tells Action 8 News that the incident happened around 10 p.m. on Tuesday, May 14 at Wetumpka High School.
Dennis said the students climbed through the window of a teacher’s classroom while the school building was closed.
According to the details released by the school district, students squirted ketchup and mustard on the floors and walls, threw hundreds of sheets of paper, spread bags of flour and spread bails of straw/hay in three hallways and the commons area.
The students also turned over desks in rooms, moved desks into the halls and turned them upside down in those same areas.
Officials say a student sprayed “implied profanity” on a classroom door.
In the teachers lounge, furniture was overturned and some was dragged into the hallway, spread pine straw and ketchup, and left the ice machine open in an attempt to melt the ice onto the floor.
In addition, lunch tables were flipped over, various streamers and silly string were used on the floor and walls, and bathroom trash cans were dumped into one of the hallways.
Senior prank at Elmore County High School/Source: Elmore County Board of Education
Officials say there was also an attempt to tear down a banner in one of the hallways that caused damage to the ceiling.
Dennis said the principal shows not to pursue discipline, but the students were sent to alternative school, which caused them not to participate in senior activities, including walking in graduation.
The superintendent is pushing back on claims that damage at Wetumpka High School is similar to an incident that happened at Elmore County High School, where the students there were allowed to participate in graduation.
Dennis said that prank was limited to confetti, balloons and post-it notes.
The school district said the principal there didn’t classify it as the same level as vandalism at WHS for obvious reasons.
