By Robin Y. Richardson, Marshall News Messenger
Graduating Marshall High School seniors, including several honor students, will not be participating in Friday’s graduation activities due to their involvement in what they considered a harmless senior prank last Thursday.
Toilet paper. (Photo By Glenn Asakawa/The Denver Post via Getty Images)
“What happened was a group of kids, we came to the school at night to TP the school — just a little senior prank fun,” said participating senior Ashton Phan, noting they put toilet paper on the lawn and spelled out the year 2014 in toilet paper on the football turf.
Another group of students reportedly went inside of the school, which was unlocked, and discharged a fire extinguisher. Others turned over tables.
“They decided to suspend all of us and not allow us to walk on graduation night,” said Phan, an honors student on the Distinguished Achievement Program.
He, along with Sharnice Rusk, another participant on the distinguished honors program, understands punishing the students, but feels like banning them from graduation is too extreme.
“It was a little excessive for the simple fact it was toilet paper and tape,” Rusk said of the punishment.
Rusk, who is in the top 15 percent of the class, said she wasn’t on the scene long when she came to join in the prank Thursday night. She left after spending a few seconds there.
“The prank was to flip everything upside down and tape the school or whatever,” she said. “When I came, I turned the table, but I couldn’t flip it, so I left.
“I came for one minute,” said Rusk.
Rusk’s grandmother Sherel Hurd said she doesn’t understand why the punishment had to be so severe, especially when her granddaughter, who is an honors student, decided to leave.
“She’s supposed to be graduating in all white,” said Hurd. “She’s never been in any trouble, never did anything wrong.”
“This man can’t have a heart,” she said of Superintendent Marc Smith, who reportedly made the decision to suspend students.
Hurd said she doesn’t understand why students, including some in the top 10 percent, are banned from graduation and not allowed to finish their last school week, especially when suspension is supposed to last no longer than three days, according to the student handbook.
“Three days is up Wednesday,” the grandmother said, referring to the student handbook on suspension.
“We understand we should be punished, but to take away us walking is a little excessive,” said Rusk. “My relatives were already on their way. I spent money on them coming and on their rooms.”
Phan said if the district complied with the handbook, then the suspension would actually end on Wednesday, in time for the expelled students to take their final exam on Thursday.
Phan said, further, he doesn’t think it’s fair that those who gave written statements, confessing to their part of the prank, are the only ones getting suspended while the others who haven’t confessed, but have been named as participants, aren’t being punished.
“The ones that were told on, they aren’t being punished because they didn’t write a statement,” he said.
Read the full story by Robin Y. Richardson from Marshall News Messenger.
