Four Springfield, Ohio, students could be facing long prison sentences–because of a senior prank gone wrong.
The pranksters–Taylor Monroe, Stewart Parrott, Justin Weekly, and Anthony Esposito–deflated the tires of 24 school buses, by removing the valve stems. That forced the district to cancel classes for the entire day.
They also wrote, in sidewalk chalk, “You have been pranked by Seniors 2015.”
The district says the prank will likely cost thousands of dollars to fix–though they didn’t specify how letting the air out of tires would cost so much to fix.
The students have been charged with felony vandalism and disrupting public service. They each face up to six months in prison.
District Superintendent Tony Orr was unsympathetic for the four teenagers facing hard time over a prank: “They should have to pay for what they did.”
Unfortunately, Springfield is the latest in a long list of “zero tolerance” policies in schools causing lasting damage for students. While the students should have to pay for disrupting the school day, it’s unfair that they should have felonies on their permanent record–along with jail time–simply because of a harmless prank.
