Update on Student Prank / Vandalism at MHS
May 2nd, 2014 by Joe Burgess
A decision has been reached in dealing with the Monticello High School students involved in Wednesday night’s student pranks, which bordered on vandalism.
According to Monticello Schools, 13 students, juniors and seniors, the required to attend “in school suspension” for five days.
For the seniors, Thursday would’ve been there last day of school. For the juniors, their final exams will be given at the City Park campus in their ISS classes.
This situation is being dealt with as an “in school issue,” since only minor damage was done. Criminal charges are not expected to be pursued.
The students involved will be allowed to take part in commencement activities, pending they complete their ISS requirements and pay any restitution that is due.
Although many other students were present, the 13 students who are included in this decision are the ones who entered the building and caused the damage, as recorded on video surveillance cameras.
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From this point forward, the School needs to implement a “No prank on Campus policy.” Make it clear to the students that if you “prank” on school grounds, you will not walk at graduation. No exceptions. Apparently kids aren’t smart enough to distinguish between a prank and vandalism so take the choice away.
They should NOT get to walk at graduation. Kids now days get away with everything. What will they do next time? Whatever, then get away with it.
I agree with Uncle Bob.
Everyone says Monticello is better than Drew central!!! But yah they kinda are but ya no at least we give out better punishments then that!! What is going to be in Monticello I wonder we will have to wait and see
I agree with birdlady it may have been only minimal damage but what you are telling them is its ok to do this we wont punish you to bad. I will have to give it to Drew Central for not being afraid of the kids and their parents and doing what needed to be done. My son graduated from Monticello and his “prank” consisted of doing stuff outside, when you go inside at that point it should become breaking and entering.
It was a SENIOR PRANK.. No harm was meant to be done. Let kids grow up and enjoy the highschool days.
Last I checked children learn by making mistakes and dealing with the consequences. Nobody’s little sweetheart is perfect no matter how much mom and dad might wish they were. No pranks on campus?? Really?? Welcome to the New America, Land of the Free. Home of the Overly Sensitive. If you’ll step right this way we’ll take your dna and vital statistics just in case you do something wrong down the line.
i dont think its fair that they get to walk because the 2013 senoirs at drew central did the same thing, and they didnt get to graduate. The ones that were involved in this stupid prank shouldnt walk at all. ISS isnt doing anything!!
All depends who you are or your parents.
The drew central class did way worse than monticello did it was not a big prank America is getting too sensitive they got the punishment they deserve calm down and chill out
It’s kind of ridiculous how MHS gets credit for being a “better” school even though they let the students slide off. At least DC teaches students to live with their choices and suffer the consequences like the real world. ISS is the dumbest punishment for this.
I bet the ones that got ISS are either in the court system or not popular. Just like the kid that just got expelled for having a rifle in his vehicle at safe prom. There was a kid before that got caught twice and ddidnt get expelled until till the second offense. It has and always be that way at Monticello schools. It was wrong to break into a school period. They all should’ve gotten the same punishment. So… If a student wants to break the rules they can claim it was a prank and get away with it. Everything about MHS is twisted!
Birdlady, why do you think they shouldn’t be able to walk at graduation? They didn’t jump anyone, get caught with drugs, hurt anyone, etc. They did a harmless prank and shouldn’t be punished to where they lose the opportunity that only comes once in a lifetime which is walking at their high school graduation. I agree that it was stupid but aren’t all pranks stupid? Kid will be kids and all kids make stupid decisions. Preventing them from walking at their high school graduation will not help anything. I think it could possibly make the situation work if they kept these kids from walking. When I was in high school, I saw a lot worse things done than this. If someone would have gotten hurt or a lot of damage to the school was done, then I would agree that a more severe punishment would have been necessary but seeing that nothing like that happened, I think the punishment they received is good enough. The punishment should fit the crime and I think the people that handed out the punishment did a good job making sure that happened. I would like to know of a high school kid that never did anything stupid. I bet there’s not one parent out there that can honestly say that their high school kid never did anything stupid. What you should ask yourself when thinking of a punishment is “was anyone hurt?”, “how much damage was done”, “have these kids been in a lot of trouble before”, and other similar questions. If the answer to all or at least majority of the questions is “no”, then a harsh punishment is not necessary.
Faith, Drew Central should never be compared to any school in the Monticello School District. Your grammar is a perfect indication of why Monticello schools are a lot better than Drew Central schools. I went to Monticello’s schools my entire life and I think they had great schools with teachers that are a lot better than Drew Central. I don’t know what the statistics are, but I would bet that Monticello High School has a better completion rate and more students that go to college and graduate college. And would bet that students that graduated from Monticello High School are more successful than those that graduated from Drew Central. Comparing Monticello schools to those of Drew Central isn’t really comparing apples to apples. More like comparing apples to prunes.
I love the way so many adult on social media will resort to name calling and try to belittle people. Well, the truth of the matter is this…. These students broke into a locked building and attempted to vandalize it. Only reason their wasn’t more damage done to the school was the prompt response time of the MPD. This is not a case of kids being kids, this was criminal mischief and breaking and entering. Sugar coating it doesn’t change that fact. Wonder if these had be under privilege youth doing the same thing, if many if you would be singing the same song?
I noticed I made several grammatical errors when typing my last response. Can’t wait to see adults attack that fact in an attempt to take away from the case at hand.
Its jus a senior prank. Geez. No big deal. Get ur panties out of a wad
Why does everyone down drew central in a post on here about what Monticello students did. Drew central is a great school my family and myself graduated from there and my kids go there to. I am proud for my kids to be a pirate. This is about Monticello kids not comparing kids from one school to a kid from another school.
Drew Central prank punishment VS Monticello prank punishment???
Who cares? They are different circumstances. However, send them alll to SINGAPORE for a bamboo lashing !
Remember the guy from the USA that did a prank with a spray paint can? Heck, send them there for bamboo spanking and let them walk if they CAN……..
It is pretty obvious that the comments on here calling it a prank are parents who have delinquents that were involved.Even tho the names are not published the who town knows who they are.We know who gets off and why.
There is a difference in a prank and tearing up stuff that people work and pay for.
This was not a prank but imo an obvious attempt at damage that was caught in time.
The adults who imo had to have let them in are as much responsible and should have some sort of punishment.
I am tired of paying taxes to support your delinquents “pranks”.
The MHS is filled with injustices..not all are or have ever been treated equally.
I blame the administration and the parents.
The person who said MHS is better than DCHS is an embarrassment.
I personally went to MHS and what a joke of a system.
I think they are not meeting required standards in several subjects.
C-Luck I find your comments not only rude and reprehensible but also very inaccurate. Drew Central is an amazing school with teachers and administrators that are above reproach. I find it preposterous that any group of students would want to prank their own school as a senior prank. Seniors should be at a more mature level than pranking. Additionally, those that are no longer in school should be above childish name calling.
Since when is breaking and entering a “prank”?
Was it breaking and entering?
Did an adult let them in?
Breaking and entering is a crime.
So ,if these delinquents break into a store at night and throw trash around and that is all they get to before the police arrive it will be okay cause they went to MHS …..home of the 50,000 dollar a year millionaires.
I have always been told that if you are going to be stupid then you have to be tough. These kids need to be punished. If not then they will not ever learn to be responsible for their mistakes and will continue to hide under mama’s skirt
Well I know I went to Monticello and yes it can be clickish, my kids go to Drew central, I love the fact that after moving away and coming back a few yrs later that the staff at DC remembered there names, these kids did wrong, here’s my questions, was it a first offense? Do they have good grades and good conduct? I don’t believe making 1 mistake should stop them from what they have worked 12 yrs to earn, the yr I graduated several guys were not aloud to walk because they didn’t follow dress code for for rehearsal or something, they didn’t wear a tie, and 1 of the kids dad was the super intendant if MHS back then, it was a harsh punishment, I agree kids will be kids we all did stupid things senior skip day driving over to DC egging and throwing water balloons at the kids outside, we just didn’t get caught! But had we got caught I’d expect that I would have got in trouble, I don’t know any of the kids involved, yes they did wrong, yes ISS may not be the appropriate punishment, but not allowing a kid to walk after being a good student is not the answer, maybe community punishment, have them all spend a few of there weekends cleaning Monticello streets, or school grounds, as far as all the status quo remarks stating you have to be a certain kid to get away not sure I buy into all that, I was not rich infact I was very poor my mom worked at a general store and had 8 kids plus whoever needed a place to live, she barely got pd minimum wage she was to proud for government assistance, we lived in small run down trailor, in a poverty neighbor hood, I can’t recall ever being mistreated by MHS staff, I was Vice President of hosa club I was given more than 1 chance for stupid stuff I did, like quitting school 2 months before graduation for 2 wks had missed over my days they worked nicely with me got caught skipping, smoking cigs, fighting I was never treated any different, I got the punishment I deserved for being a rebellious kid, I’m grateful MHS staff was supportive and allowed me to graduate, these kids have not done anymore than the rest of us they simply just got caught, this has nothing to do with last names and bank accounts, and nothing to do with what school is better, the state of AR has a set guideline every school has to follow, I don’t believe Monticello kids are smarter or more likely to succeed than DC I know plenty of DC and MHS graduates who went to college and I know plenty who did not, circumstances may not allow you to go to college, maybe some kid has to work full time to survive maybe there home life was so bad they had no choice but to get out wrk and get there own home, I know that’s what I did, college wasn’t an option for me at the time,I. Did not go to college for yrs, so it’s the comments like that, that make Monticello look bad you thinking someone is better than someone because of what school, ha even college graduates who become prominent citizens and make poor choices, I mean wasn’t there a lawyer ( a highly educated citizen who just hot in trouble?) being educated making a million a yr doesn’t make u better, being honest, loyal, trustworthy, dependable, helping others, just plain old good morals and unselfish acts of kindness truly caring about another’s well being, paying it forward that’s a good Person, my mom was poor and never knew how she would feed us, she sacrificed unselfishly 16 hrs a day, and I do t recall her ever having regrets, she took the little we had and helped anyone who needed it, she never turned anyone away who was hungry,
Parents, Grandparents, teachers, and school board members alike should take this opportunity to talk to kids and explain this type of behavior is unacceptable. If this were my child, I would hold him/her responsible for their actions. A prank is putting the teachers desk on the roof…not breaking into a building and vandalizing. This is considered a crime and kids need to understand that.
We had senior pranks when I was young as well, but we knew that we better not vandalize anything. Not only would we receive punishment from the school, but our parents would’ve gotten us worse when we got home. The problem with our society is that nobody wants to accept responsibility for their actions. People make mistakes, but many need to stop pointing fingers on things they know nothing about. Was it ignorant? Absolutely!! Hopefully these children had sensible parents that punished them and caused them to realize they better not do it again.
Sounds like C Luck must have been giving everything and not had to work for any of it. Yes i went to Drew Central and no I didn’t go to collage but I am very very successful and a lot of my class mates are to so before you go downing Drew Central think about what your saying!!!!!!!!
There is one thing abundantly clear: The punishment for these so called pranks is not sufficient. If it was then this type of behavior would not take place. I don’t understand why these students would want to prank the school they attended for so many years. Where is their school pride? Where is their school spirit?
I realize they are just kids and kids will do stupid things at time. However, that is not a reason but an excuse. The school board should have policies in place and enforce said policies regardless of circumstances of the prank, who the parents are, if they were caught during or after the prank, etc. They should be held accountable with a criminal record, made to clean up the mess, make retributions, and perform community service such as picking up trash on Greenhill road that leads to our city and county dump. Then maybe when these students have to do manual labor along with having a criminal record that could prohibit scholarships, jobs, etc, this would stop.
My last comment is this: I would like to request the following people to run for the school board. They really seem to know what should be done. They are as follows: Uncle Bob, Birdlady, MHS Parent, Really, KR, and Jack!
give them their diplomas without ceremony, but do give it to them
last year drew central seniors poured junk into the hallways and ruined the carpets and im pretty dure they got to walk at grauation. It was a prank and kids are gonna dont stupid things they are kids i’m a kid i should no. Monticello school and Drew Central school have a rivalry and probably will until they go down, but on aniother note “cluck” faith said yah and last time i checked that was incorrect spelling not grammar
Look, it is what it is. Complaining will not change the verdict. People who commit more serious crimes don’t even get the punishment we think they deserve, but that’s just how America works. This is nothing new, so stop crying about it. As far as school vs. school, It doesn’t matter which school is better. Students make their own decisions when they step into the building. If they care about their education they will do what it takes to achieve. In some cases teachers and other staff members don’t do their jobs, but if we have a problem with that; we need to do something about it. We’re all entitled to our opinion, but there is no need to act childish and start the name calling.