A group of rowdy Tennessee high school students went “too far” during their initially sanctioned senior prank as they trashed classrooms and hallways in a wild frenzy that resulted in “pretty devastating” damage.
Spring Hill High School was left in ruins last week and forced to close for a day after about 100 students were allowed into the building by district officials for activities that quickly went sideways, according to reports.
Maury County School Superintendent Lisa Ventura called the damage “pretty devastating, pretty disappointing,” even if it wasn’t as bad as first thought.
“There was a lot of foodstuff[s], a lot of toilet paper, a lot of debris,” Ventura told WKRN.
There were also remnants of paintball and a number of liquids spilled throughout hallways and classrooms, she added.
Two students also told WKRN they saw “desks piled up, books everywhere, trash spread throughout the school” across social media.
About 40 weekend meal bags meant for students in need, as well as hygiene products, were also destroyed, said Shelly Sassen, who is the director of a local outreach center that helped organize collecting the goods, according to the Tennessean.
“This is a very unusual situation,” Maury County Sheriff Bucky Rowland told the Tennessean. “It definitely shouldn’t have happened; I can tell you that.”
A parent of a student, Devan Allen, told WKRN her child was at the school “to do approved activities for the senior prank.”
“It definitely went too far, no question; way too far,” Allen reportedly said.
The school closed the next day so the mess could be cleaned up.
Though the school initially called on students who were in the school at the time of the vandalism to pay $50 in restitution and work community service hours, they pulled that back the next day in hopes of only targeting the students who went overboard, she told the station.
“We are working on identifying numerous people involved and are gathering evidence,” Rowland, the sheriff, said per the Tennessean.
“We are gathering all of the facts to determine whether a crime was committed or not. Other circumstances determine whether it was a school function that got out of hand or a crime.”
