What was meant to be a harmless prank to bid farewell to their high school years has cost South Whidbey’s graduating seniors some beloved events and caused a stir in the community over the school district’s response.

While Principal John Patton chose not to press charges, he decided to cancel three long-standing traditions — the Senior Parade, the Senior Barbecue and Field Day — and families are not happy.

Sunday night, a group of 41 students entered the high school and littered multiple classrooms, the Old Commons, the New Commons and the main gym with toilet paper, sticky notes, Silly String and balloons, according to Patton and Superintendent Josephine Moccia.

Following the discovery on early Monday morning, school was nearly canceled to allow staff to clean the mess, which Moccia said took two hours and the help of maintenance, custodial and administrative staff, as well as a number of teachers.

Despite the lack of damage to buildings, the school contacted the Island County Sheriff’s Office, and a lieutenant spoke with the seniors involved and explained what could happen if the school pursued legal charges, as confirmed by different parties involved, including Island County Sheriff Rick Felici.

During a board business meeting Wednesday night, a parent said students believed they would leave the meeting “in handcuffs.” Students in attendance also said they feared that a criminal charge on their record would cost their future careers.

Parents and students voiced their concerns about the school’s reaction, Patton’s alleged inability to appropriately communicate guidelines for the prank and the conversations that led students to believe they had his approval.

In an email to The Record, Patton and Moccia wrote that they never gave permission to do the prank and that they don’t happen every year, nor are they condoned or encouraged.

Had it been an activity approved by the school, Moccia said, there would have been adults present, a clean-up plan and information provided to the students.

But during the meeting and an interview with The Record, parents and students recalled various conversations with Patton where they discussed prank ideas and limits. For example, they allege they were told that damaging the school or bringing live animals was not allowed.

In an interview, Jeremiah Donier, a parent of a senior involved with the prank, said his daughter recalled Patton finding the suggestions amusing. One of them, he said, involved camping in teachers’ yards.

In a screenshot sent to The Record, students received confirmation from a peer that Patton allegedly approved the prank as long as they didn’t damage anything. Wednesday, a student said the group had also planned to clean up the school after the fact, but weren’t “given the opportunity” to do so.

Patton and Moccia explained, however, that the prank went beyond harmless fun, despite good intentions. Students used the key badges of two staff members to get inside the school without their permission, which raised security concerns.

Once inside, they wrote, students touched discipline files. They also went into the nurse’s office where student medication is located (though they couldn’t access the meds because they are double-locked), the principal’s office and the assistant principal’s office.

The area that stored completed AP exams was not “compromised” — had that been the case, the superintendent and the principal wrote, they would have been invalidated. In one case, however, students threw around tests that were scheduled to be given in a class.

The attendance desk was covered with items, the buildings were “strewn with the mess,” and staff had to remove toilet paper from outside trees. Students also stuffed toilet paper into toilets and used Saran wrap on toilets, doors and desks, Moccia and Patton wrote.

Staff also found broken glass vials that had been used as stink bombs, windows defaced with markers and a disabled office phone.

A significant concern, they wrote and emphasized at the meeting, was the fact that students used a ladder to climb to the roof, from where they threw more toilet paper and other items.

“Imagine if a student fell while climbing over 15 feet up through the portal to the roof from the bathroom where they accessed it?” Moccia and Patton wrote.

While the Scholarship Night, the Farewell Assembly and the Graduation Ceremony are still happening, the class that missed out on eighth grade traditions due to the COVID-19 pandemic is now grieving the loss of more opportunities to have school memories.

Wednesday, Student Board Member Carter McKnight said the decision to cancel the three senior events is unfair to the seniors who did not take part in the prank. According to Moccia and Patton, there are a total of 104 seniors in the district.

To students and parents, all seniors are being punished because of a misunderstanding.

“I feel that the principal really wasn’t transparent about rules and expectations for the kids,” Donier said. “(The school) didn’t set ground rules. He could have written something out. He could have sent something home.”

The gym on Monday morning. According to Moccia and Patton, students entered the school by using two staff members’ key badges without permission. (Photo provided)

According to Moccia and Patton, students went too far by entering various offices, touching discipline files, throwing tests around, climbing the roof and disabling a phone, among other things. At the same time, they acknolweged the students had no intention of causing harm. (Photo provided)

Though students believed they had permission to pull the prank on the school, Moccia and Patton said an approved prank would have included information sent to students, the presence of adults on the scene and a clean-up plan. (Photo provided)