I Should be happy today.. But read.

[Specialized]

Alright. This morning I should be waking up and smiling and being happy- it is afterall the day of my senior prom. Well- it is the day that my class is having their senior prom, and I should have been attending.

On Thursday night, from about 1:30am til about 5am my friends (3 of them) and myself decided to pay tribute to a few friends we have lost through highschool. We carefully engineered and built two 10x25foot black signs with white paint. One said

2006
RIP ALL THOSE WE LOST

another said

2006
WERE THE BEST THATS BEEN


Now, my school has two large entrances in the front area. Both are aproximately 27 feet wide and house the main front staircases. We had been planning this entire week to unleash these flags as students entered school on friday (the day before the prom) oh- the signs had big skulls with cross bones in the middle of them (to symbolize the "pirate" prom to come the next day. Alright- so we get up onto the roof. Yes we knew we were trespassing, but the cops came through the school 3 times while we were there- and no one saw us up there, so we continued constructing our creation- it was a medly of carefully constructed PVC framing to hold the signs as we planned for high winds and possible rain. (Mind you one "accomplice" and I are planning to go to college for Mechanical engineering, another is going to RIT for computer science/engineering, and another is one of the smartest history buffs in the school. This group wasnt messing around, wasnt intended to be a senior prank. We were attempting to pay tribute to our fallen classmates (were up to 4 losses in the last two years) and show a bit of cheer for our class. So we construct these things and the launch mechanisms we were going to use were all set up, the flags rolled up into their positions. Somehow- the 400feet of launchcord we were going to use to trigger this system got all tangled so at 5am we had to manually release the flags and allow them to hang there until school started. Oh did I mention- these flags were not malicious or vandalistic at all, we simply used rops and a few big pavers to hold them up so they wouldnt fall down. But we didnt anchor(screw/nail) into the school at all.

Okay, we go home and we were fine. I was SOAKED, it had been raining from about 3am-5am. but I got home. Oh btw- none of our parents knew we were doing this besides one. We had written a note and carefully placed it at the main entrance. This note FULLY explained all of what we had been planning to do- THIS WAS NOT A PRANK. If you want some engineering students to do a prank on a school, its not going to be some signs, youre going to be in major trouble. Anyways, we simply wanted to show our school spirit and respect for our fallen classmates.

Friday school- everybody is talking about "those signs" that were taken down at 7:18am. My school rings its final bell at 7:45.


I go to my classes- 1-5 and Im sleepy as hell because I only got 40 minutes of sleep. I sleep in periods 4-5 because I get a 94 in Physics, highest level, and I dont even hand in my lab reports. K,. but anyways as Im dozing over in my desk during my lab period- the office rings up and I think nothing of it until my teachers says with a shaky voice "Chris, they want you int eh office". Did I mention that I only get in trouble in school because I use remote desktop and for some reason the librarians think thats a crime. But anyways I get called down and they have me tell the whole story (my friends had already told the whole thing, they just wanted me to admit to it). Im thinking.. 1-2 day suspension.

Wrong.


The principal looks at me with a stern face and says 7 days. The look on my face must've been so priceless. I had enough anger in me to take and punch THROUGH a brick wall. And I bet I could have. Now, on top of that 7 days which STARTED yesterday (friday), I cant go to my senior prom. I shell out hundreds of dollars on tux, flowers, party plans, etc. And you know what- they say that I shouldve been suspended more but they want me to come to class day and class night. no. I dont want to go to class day and class night. I want to go to my senior prom. Ill give it all up to be able to go. I swear I will. But whats over is over. My girlfriend is super mad at me. Oh on top of the 7 days and no prom- the school pressed charges on us- the school cop gave us a ticket for "simple trespass" 92$. yeah okay. not too huge but still.

So the cop told us we only got simple trespass because he saw the signs and the rigging we used and he was impressed. "Ive never seen something so orchestrated, you guys are nuts"


I put a smile on my face and had the audacity to tell him about the 3 sweeps the cops made through the parking lot and didnt think to look onto the roof for four kids running around.


opinions/experiences like this? tell me about them. Ive got plenty of time.

I cant go back to school until the 31st.

I got more suspension time than a kid who is caught with illegal drugs in school.

Does anyone else think this punishment is a little overboard?

My parents do.

The other parents do.

All my friends do.

Teachers do.

The administration at my school had a power trip. And theyre too self righteous to admit it.

[irishninja]

Would it have been to hard just to ask the school permission to put up these signs? Or posted them up inside the school? My school, Stuyvesant, had two kids die from a car crash, so all their friends asked the school for permission to put up various memorials around the school, newspaper articles, pictures, the words Kevin and April, etc, and some of them are stlil there today. I can understand why you did it, but can't you see why the principle would be mad at you guys? Hes the principle, anything you do that might be slightly dangerous he could get sued for. You probably wouldn't, but the fact remains he could, or he could lose his job, etc. This prank wasn't meant to harm, which is why I think that the principle would have okayed it.

[MattK]

So who snitched?

[Specialized]

Im not quite sure.

I was prepared to get in trouble- but not this.

I want to go to my prom. and not being able to go back to school until the 31st is pretty harsh.

[sanddrag]

Wow dude, that sucks. One person I know actually got expelled for hacking. He was in a group of a few students involved. They didn't do anything real malicious from what I understand, but they cracked a password file and used it to log in as administrator and then the admin passwords started floating around the school because they couldn't keep their mouths shut. If instead of bragging about it they went to the tech department and showed them what they could do, they probaly would have landed a job their.

[Eugenia Gabrielov]

I'm sorry this happened to you. There's no reassuring "it's not that bad" thing I can think of to say, because I can only imagine how you feel right now.

At least take heart that you're probably already accepted in a college, and you don't have to deal with the admin ever again, very very soon (probably). I wish you the best of luck with everything. Just remember, you did what you thought was right, and even if doing something else would have changed everything, you needn't worry about what you could have done.

[s_forbes]

I kind of went through a similar experience a couple of years ago.

It started when I found a school locker lock stuck on a desk in my math class. I thought to myself, "I wonder if I could break it off of there?". The next day I came to school with a screwdriver and managed to pop off the back of the lock and completely take it apart. Success!

Being a nerdy kid who wanted to see how things worked, I of course played with all the parts and examined the lock. It was around this time that I made the discovery that all locker locks have a keyhole in the back. Further investigation revealed that administrators actually have a key that can fit all of the locks!

Being that nerdy kid I am, I set out to make my own using the tumbler from the lock I had just taken apart. 30 minutes with a file and an old house key later, I had a home made key ready for testing. I showed my friend the next day and we ran over to my locker to give it a test. *click* It opened right up. Then we tested it on his locker, and the same thing happened. This thing is pretty cool!

A couple months later me and a bunch of my friends all had these keys and used them to open our lockers and each others if we needed. We never used them on anyone elses, because we knew that that was a sure way to get us in trouble. We were all honors kids afterall, so the thought of stealing hadn't even occured to us.

Some time the next year (sophmore year) it was leaked that a bunch of us had keys that could open all 2500 lockers in the school. The school administration obviously thought that we were stealing anything we could get our hands on (which we weren't) and called us to the office one by one. We explained that they were only used on our lockers and we would never dream of stealing. The school cop wasn't easily convinced, and he compared us to "common low-life killers" and promised to ruin our lifes if we didn't fess up to stealing stuff. Eventually they saw that we weren't crooks, and they confiscated the keys and let us off with 3 days of suspension (5 for me for being the "ring-leader").

Looking back it was a really stupid thing to do and I'm lucky that no real theifs got ahold of any of the keys. (I was a freshman, I didn't know any better!)

But somehow the school hasn't learned their lesson and they still have the same locker system. Someday a real crook is going to find out the same thing I did, and then they'll be in real trouble...

[sanddrag]

That's awesome about the lock. Too bad you took it just a little too far. Hacking and breaking into places I believe is a very valuable and honorable skill to have as long as you only use it on your own property and do not publicize security holes.

[Cynette]

So what can you salvage from today?

Can you get dressed up and take your girl out to dinner before prom? Take the photos? Is there an after party you can go to? Surely the admin cannot stop you from those activities.

That way you are only missing out on the 3-4 hour dance in between.

The world is full of should haves, could haves, and would haves. What's done is done.

BTW thanks for sharing your story. Our school has lost two students this year, to have lost 4 in two years seems almost overwhelming. I appreciate that you tried to do something for your school spirit and in memoriam.

Cynette

[miketwalker]

One thing that I've learned, and definitly have had very much reiterated as a college mentor is that you simply can't do stuff like that. The intention is totally honorable, but the thing is... there are so many ways that it could have been done. Unlike the other posts here, I have to say I fully agree with the principal's actions. You totally broke rules, snuck around cops, trespassed on property, and had no permission to display what you did. Yes, you had good intentions but you simply can't go about things in that way.

Think about it from a principal's perspective, if he were to let you go with a light punishment who knows what kind've prank someone else might do this year or in future years if they think "Oh, I'll just get a slap on the wrist." Honoring those who have passed is respectable, but you simply can't do that. You're not a freshman, you're a graduating senior. Act like it.

If this sounds harsh, that's cause it needs to be. You need to not look at this as an "My administrator was a mean jerk!" thing and take it for what it is. This is how the future is, and if you were to do this not as a student I can assure you that you would be in a much worse situation then not going to prom. Prom is an honor not a freebie.

I honestly feel that had you brought something about this thing you wanted to do to the administration before hand and went through proper channels you could have done something. Yea, probably not banners on the top of a building, but that's life. You need to learn from this now or you are going to run into major, major problems in the future. You went against the rules, and if anything I think the punishment was light. The rules are the rules, and nobody cares what your intentions were. Wars are started with the best intentions, and look how those turn out. Respect those who have died, but doing it in the way you did is incredibly disrespectful to your administration and school that HAS gotten you to the point your at now and is ready to send you off with their seal of approval. That far outways the intentions, because so many other proper channels could have been used to respectfully honor them whether it be in school or in the graduation ceremony or something. I hope that you make a quick change in your attitude or you'll have severe consequences down the line.

[Matt Krass]

I have to say I agree fully with Mike on this one.

I see why you would do what you did, but it could have been done better I think. Like Mike said, there are many other channels to go through and this did not show any respect for the school, and in turn, respect for those lost. I think the school acted appropriately and I support their decisions.

Life is hard, you can't just do what you want and disregard those around you if you want to succeed. Honoring those you've lost by disrespecting those who've led you through the last four years is not all that honorable to anyone. You deceived parents, administrators and law officers. This is nothing to be proud of.

I know this is harsh, but it's imperative you understand where you went wrong here.

[Dylan]

Meh, principles. Give them a little bit of power, and they go all dictatorship on you! What they did was way harsh, especially considering that the signs were not offensive or anything.
You should appeal to someone higher up, they stepped over the line.
I know if my school did something like that, my mother would be all over them, she's really good when it comes to standing up for her kids (just ask my little brother's school )

[Eugenia Gabrielov]

I want to thank Beth Sweet for bringing up a VERY important point to me via PM, and confess that I stand corrected.

I'd like to caution you about college. Many high schools, when they commit disciplinary action on a student, send that report to the colleges the student applied to. Suspension can negate college decisions, so you may want to speak to your counselor about it.

Trust me, dealing with a college in that regard is probably not something you want to deal with.

[Michelle Celio]

Originally Posted by Specialized1248

Does anyone else think this punishment is a little overboard?

Honestly, I don't think what you did was that bad. But just to let you have you know, you lucked out. Being at the school you're at I mean. If you were at my school, you would of been expelled. (They don't stand for anything. You break rules, you're out.)

[KenWittlief]

sorry but I dont buy your stance. What you did was a senior prank. Putting RIP or any other message on the banner doenst change that.

Next year if some kid climbs up on the roof to one-up the class of 2006, and falls to his death, then it doesnt matter what was on your banner.

If you genuinely wanted to honor the students who have died this year there are so many ways you could have done so, not only without getting in trouble, but actually getting a positive reputation on your school record, that would carry through to your college life.

Your logic is the same as people who set fires to SUVs in dealership parking lots ("we are saving the earth by torching these vehicles"). They know they are breaking the law, they know it will not be good if they get caught, but they rationalize that what they are doing is really a good thing.

The laws we have as a society, and the rules established at your school are there for many reasons, some of which you may not have considered. When you break them you dont get to choose the degree of punishment you will receive, someone else does.

I know that right now you think this is not fair, because the world has not conformed to the way you think it should be. All I can say is, the world is the way it is. You interact with it, you see what happens, and you adjust your expectations accordingly.

In this case the consequences were not what you expected. If someone had fallen off the roof the other night, or if one of the pavers had gotten pulled off the roof onto someones head then the results could have been much worse. The schools administration must make it absolutely clear that this type of activity is not acceptable and will not be tolerated. Otherwise when someone gets hurt or killed doing something similar they are the ones who will be held accountable (not you!)

Now its up to you. You can go through life being PO'd about this, or you can adjust your understanding of the world accordingly.