Posted by ( Nick Cargo ) on May 23, 2008 at 4:12 pm

No Jody,
These kids should not be punished at all except to clean up the mess. Senior pranks are a time honored tradition this time of year. We did much worse stuff in the ‘80’s. I don’t think you can even remember high school, you wrinkled up old dinosaur!
Nick

Posted by ( Blair Hale ) on May 23, 2008 at 10:19 pm

I would have similar questions regarding the overall circumstances and what was actually going on when these water balloons were thrown at teachers.  If teachers were participating, there should be no action taken against the kids.  If teachers were NOT participating, then YES, by all means there should be some punishment. 

I believe the banning from the graduation ceremonies is appropriate.  Too often in today’s society, the history has been to overlook, turn your back, no one else saw it, etc....things are done without a price to pay.  Certainly, before stepping into the real world as an adult, we should ALL have been made to take responsibility for our actions and suffer the consequences.  For too long now, there have been non consequences, big or small In this day and time, it is not acceptable anymore to ignore the small things, because the next thing you know, someone will be looking to “up the anty” so to speak, until “jokes”, “pranks”, “games”, get so out of hand that serious offenses have been made against innocent victims and the irreversible is damage is done. No one should ever reach 50 years of age or so and NEVER had to take responsibility of their own behavior.

Posted by ( Darrell ) on May 24, 2008 at 12:34 am

I think that they should have been allowed to attend the graduation, but only if there was no prior trouble from the students.  This prank was not like the spray painting antics at another local school.  The students that threw the balloons should be punished by serving a few hours (80 hours or so) of after school clean up.  After serving the hours they should then be given their diplomas.  Were the students showing disrespect to the teachers......this is only one side of the story.

Posted by ( Jon Smithson ) on May 24, 2008 at 8:31 am

These kids got what they deserved. I agree that it is time to grow up when you are about to graduate. These individuals show conduct themselves as role models for the under classmen in the school and should lead by example. Lisa, as a veteran, I take your comment as an insult. Let me assure you that if these kids ever go into the military, such pranks will not be tolerated and the punishment will be considerably more harsh than what they received here. And by the way, when did we go to war with Iran? Did I miss something? As for you Nick, jeez man, grow up. “Wrinkled old dinosaur”? Sounds like someone has the maturity of an 8th grader.

Posted by ( Ethan ) on May 24, 2008 at 5:38 pm

Jody you seem to like to take the comments that Nick and Lisa made, and seriously downplay them. Well get ready. How about that fact that water never hurt anyone? Also in total there were around 15 kids who were not allowed to walk. The other 12 cracked eggs on all the windows, put sand in the lunchroom, and silly-stringed the entire school. I can entirely understand the fact that they weren’t allowed to walk. They committed a crime, in the fact that they broke into the school. So do these 3 kids deserve the same punishment that the 12 others do? I hardly think so. I was a part of the infamous Mobuck tee-shirt crew during basketball season at Volunteer(I’m a senior). At the time I was punished, I was told that the school board requested we be placed in alternative school, and on top of that we were indefinitly banned from all extra-caricular activities. That includes prom, graduation, and sporting events. However, I walked at graduation, went to prom, and was even later welcomed back to sporting events. What we did was far worse than throwing a water ballon, and yet we all got to particapate. They took a day away from these young men that they will never get back. I haven’t graduated from college yet, but from what I’ve heard it’s nothing compared to high school. Not only are you wrong Jody, but I actually feel somewhat dumber for even reading what you wrote.

Posted by ( Jody Lee ) on May 25, 2008 at 11:55 am

Bree - community service?  Actually I like that idea.  As long as the “punishment” was LEGIT public service, they might have actually learned something from the experience.  Good call.  As far as missing the grad ceremony being too “severe”, I hardly think that is the case.  Nevertheless, chances are they learned nothing by missing their moment on stage, and THAT is a missed opportunity.  Your idea is much better.

Ethan, of course someone could have been hurt - what nonsense to insinutate that that was not a possibility.  However it is not the point.  Neither is comparing the punishment to other punishments. It does nothing to make your case.  It is a common mistake.  Stick to the issue at hand and make your argument based on its merits (or lack thereof), instead of using other unrelated examples as smoke screens.

I fear that you are for some reason playing up the HS graduation ceremony into a more life-altering moment than it actually is. (It is a lovely occasion, to be sure, but hardly one that impact your entire life.) On the other hand, you can hardly be blamed for that.  You lack perspective at this point in your life.  Not your fault.

So not only are you off the mark, overreacting, and failing to see the big picture, Ethan, you are also showing your age.  And if reading an opinion that differs from your own makes you “feel somewhat dumber”, then perhaps you should make it a point to avoid any kind of debate or conversation in general in the future.  You cannot afford to allow yourself to be randomly dumbed-down by other’s opinions.

Silly boy.

JL

Posted by ( D Local ) on May 26, 2008 at 2:02 pm

Have any of you ever been hit with a water balloon?  It HURTS.  And from what I read, the students were, in fact, aiming at the teachers.  Would it be acceptable for a student to walk up and slap a teacher?  I’m thinking no.

Hopefully, a high school graduation ceremony isn’t the peak of anyone’s existence by the time he or she turns, say, 25.  These kids are old enough to know that pulling a prank so close to graduation might affect their chances of walking, so I feel that they could have weighed their options and made the decision not to do something like this.

The community service idea is a good one, but how could a school enforce the punishment after the students have graduated?

Posted by ( Ethan ) on May 29, 2008 at 10:39 am

Terry, correct me if I’m wrong but, when did water balloons become “hurftul, dangerous, and destructive”? You all seem to want to talk about being grown up mature adults. Well I’m sorry, but if being hit with a water balloon hurts then you’re a baby. Dangerous? Aside from being hit in the eye, and being a choking hazard to infants, what danger do water balloons pose? As for destructive, the floors have tile and not carpet in the cafateria. So therefore I do not see how these students “destruced” anything. I would imagine that if no one had said anything that the janitors/lunch ladies would have not even noticed the difference between the usual messes, and the one that day. Come on people, walk into Wal-Mart and go find the water balloons. They’re in toy section! Terry makes it out like the guys had .357 magnums. “Hurtful, Dangerous, and Destructive.” Cracks me up!!