Seven Lawrence High School students were disciplined after they were accused of trespassing before 1 a.m. Wednesday at the school, 1901 La., as part of a thwarted senior prank, said Julie Boyle, a Lawrence public schools spokeswoman.
Sgt. Trent McKinley, a Lawrence police spokesman, said an officer at 12:53 a.m. Wednesday observed subjects entering the school, and other officers arrived to help. Officers made contact with some of the seven students there and others fled.
A school resource officer then helped conduct an investigation to determine the seven students entered the building as part of a school prank.
Police took a report although the building was not damaged and nothing was taken, McKinley said. Boyle said LHS administrators were notifying parents of the seven students, three senior boys and four senior girls, and initiating disciplinary action in accordance with school board policy.
Comments
hipgal 1 year ago
3 + 3 = 7 ? What was the other student...?
cheeseburger 1 year ago
This comment was removed by the site staff for violation of the usage agreement.
emeraldknight 1 year ago
If you read the last paragraph of the column, it says there were three senior boys and four senior girls, and by my calulations, I think that equals 7. Someone can check on that for me just to make sure.
OutlawJHawk 1 year ago
Trespassing...really. As usual, overkill by LPD and USD 497. Go catch some real criminals....
Pywacket 1 year ago
Idiotic comment of the day! And so early--way to go! Had they not investigated, there would have been no way of knowing whether the intruders were students or otherwise, whether the intruders planned to do some "harmless prank" or steal sh**-tons of computers or other equipment, whether the intruders planned something truly malicious, such as planting a pipe bomb, etc..
After investigating and learning that it was "just kids" with no real harm in mind, what are they supposed to do? Laugh at the great joke that might have played out and send the kids home? I see nothing in the article indicating that the punishment will be anything worse than a charge of trespassing and whatever disciplinary action the school chooses to mete out, so please elaborate on just what part of this constitutes "overkill."
You're very naive if you think they can just ignore a break-in because it turns out to be students and not a gang of copper thieves. Trespassing is a very mild charge and seems entirely appropriate.
LarryNative 1 year ago
After investigating and learning that it was "just kids" with no real harm in mind, what are they supposed to do? Laugh at the great joke that might have played out and send the kids home?
-Yes.
TheSychophant 1 year ago
Well put, pywacket.
cheeseburger 1 year ago
Where's the story 6 News showed last night where several students were suspended for hazing, even though the head shaving had the supervision and blessing of the parents? Brungardt stepped way out of bounds on that one. I'm not normally the sue-happy type, but this was wrong. Too bad for the one kid who is missing athletic opportunities because of this outrageous ruling.
boogaboo 1 year ago
How did they enter the school without breaking in? One might assume that the school was unlocked.
robobob 1 year ago
I heard that they had the "legacy key"--stolen a few years ago. It's probably good thta it was recovered before someone with worse intentions got hold of it.
geekin_topekan 1 year ago
Thanks to paranoid rightwingers, there are no "pranks" any more, only acts of potential terrorism that might cause the sky to fall!!
justanotherface 1 year ago
The idiot liberals are just as guilty of the scare tactics.
Pywacket 1 year ago
I jumped the gun on suggesting that OutlawJHawk had won the "idiotic comment of the day" award. Afraid Outlaw slips to second place and Falsie wins! Yay!
In truth, border control has strengthened under Obama. But don't take my word for it: read what a Pulitzer Prize-winning political fact-checking site has to say about it: http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2011/may/10/barack-obama/obama-says-border-patrol-has-doubled-number-agents/
You right wingers would carry more cred if you didn't ALWAYS shoot your mouths off with absolutely no knowledge of any facts. Of course, if you checked facts and actually thought about it, you wouldn't be right wingers for long.
Trespassing must be taken seriously, as I commented to Outlaw. You should both know better than to insinuate that just because these trespassers turned out to be students, they should face no consequences.
Your type would be the very ones screaming the loudest about police incompetence if the police had let them off the hook, then later the school had burned down or something because they had hidden some incendiary device on the premises (and don't think there aren't students who would have thought that was a great "prank"). A charge of "trespassing" is not going to give them a criminal record. It is fair and appropriate.
Finally: you presume to advise "normal" people? What normal person would take you seriously? Good joke! Keep 'em coming!
consumer1 1 year ago
Are you sure you are willing to turn over your hard won, coveted idiotic comment of the day award, pie? You have worked hard to earn it. Peopel are still allowed to have an opinion, whether it passes your critique or not.
jonas_opines 1 year ago
Did she somehow keep him from having an opinion?
Your freedom to have an opinion doesn't prohibit other people from having an opinion on how idiotic your opinion is.
faceit 1 year ago
Damn, slightly obsessed with the politics? That was a lot of effort.
jonas_opines 1 year ago
Really, there should just be two categories. Dumb comments by other commentors, and dumb comments by that one. Because, no matter what else anybody says, he will eventually enter the thread (any thread) and top it.
cheeseburger 1 year ago
LJW - you removed my comment, but didn't correct the story! 'Three senior boys and three senior girls' does not equal seven.
jackpot 1 year ago
Modern Math?
JackMcKee 1 year ago
False is consistent. Consitently bad.
anothermother 1 year ago
I believe the "prank" was to put up posters in support of the boys that were punished earlier in the week for the alleged hazing incident. The kids wanted to support their classmates who they felt were too harshly punished. There is a story on 6 news about the hazing incident.
CMM 1 year ago
The officers were in their right to stop the kids. You can't just ignore someone breaking into a school. However, it would be very disappointing if cooler heads don't prevail and these kids actually face charges. I'd expect everything to be dropped from a criminal standpoint and allow USD 497 to handle any discipline 'in-house'
truman 1 year ago
Please share the pranks your classmates pulled during your high school years. I recall real estate "For Sale" signs in the front of the school and people driving motorcycles and cars into the building.
BorderRat 1 year ago
Yup. They rolled a classmates Triumph TR4 through the boys gym into the trophy hallway. I still remember the the look Mr. Rife (he was truly a class act, may he rest in peace) gave all involved. No police, no parents contacted etc. Gave us the count of ten to get it out. I think it was done in six.
Clickker 1 year ago
I think it was a VW bug that T. Scales drove into the hallway. Max was P@ssed!!
thebigspoon 1 year ago
It was a bug. I was a sophomore that year.
satie 1 year ago
Amateurs! My brother and his friends took the vice-principal's Vee Dub during the night and disassembled it. They then reassembled it on the 2nd floor of the high school. Parents were called and punishment was up to them.
RaynRavyn 1 year ago
There were a couple my senior year.... One involved live farm animals (with owner permission! Lol) and the other was a wall of beer cans all glued/taped together and taped over all of the doors to get in our HS. Yes, we were a rural school. The only "punishment" we got was to have to clean up after the critters. The beer cans were taken by the school and scrapped to contribute to our pto account. :D
faceit 1 year ago
Cops 1 Pranksters 0 But, that's (the risk) what makes it exciting as a teen. Here's to hoping theirs was a non-destructive prank (Naked pyramid pics in front of the principal's office, maybe planting a life-size picture of Obama in a wedding dress...something to remember this year by)
beatnik 1 year ago
when we were kids frosty (the local cop) would catch us and go tell our mom what we did
Jayhawk1958 1 year ago
Just kids. No biggie. Nothing got damaged and nobody was hurt. Haven't we all been part of senior pranks in high school?
emeraldknight 1 year ago
But breaking into a school is pretty serious, it doesn't matter if things were stolen or not. The fact of the matter is, these students broke the law. They are all seniors getting ready to graduate. Why make the last thing you do as a student something like this, prank or no prank?
Clickker 1 year ago
Yes they were putting up poster in support of thier friends. But the whole thing begs a different question: How can the District suspend kids for something that happened in thier home that the parents supposedly approved of? ( although it is convenient for the parents to lend support after the fact quite possibly). Now the kids that did this, they knew full well that 2 kids at FreeState, Self and Franz, had already been suspended for doing the exact same thing, so you could surmise that they were stupid to do this, or just felt that since it was approved by the parents that they could get away with it... I did hear that the administration simply did not believe the parents, thought they were lying to save their kids from getting OSS, but it seems they overstepped thier bounds in this case.
misplacedcheesehead 1 year ago
" I before 'E', except after 'C' ."
shanep 1 year ago
When I was a freshman in HS the seniors put dead fish in vents throughout the school. It stunk to high heaven for weeks until the custodians could track them all down. Another year a live goat was placed in the school courtyard. It pooped a lot and was a real hassle for someone to get out of there!
At any rate, I don't recall anyone getting in trouble for these things. A custodian who was also a student get in a bit of hot water for using his key to the building to let his buddies, the pranksters, into the building.
Guess that's what it is to grow up in a small town.
Deb Engstrom 1 year ago
We did the dead fish thing, too. We also painted a teacher's car fluorescent orange and pink in front of his house. As a teacher's kid, I was the victim of some pretty funny stuff-kidnapped, taken to a cemetery and duct taped (yes we had it back then) to a tombstone. Then my dad was sent a ransom note!!! We also went into the school after hours and hung risque' women's underwear (at least it was risque' then) on the doors of selected men teacher's rooms. Those were the days!!
sportingfan 1 year ago
It almost seems to me that the LHS administration has changed its policy or practice in regard to senior week, right in the middle of senior week. Earlier in the week somehow kids got into LHS and put string all over the halls and cups and I think a lawn mower or something was in the building. Its senior week. The administration knew damn well that the kids would be doing stuff like this. They could have caught these kids easily, but no one was there to catch them. Because its senior week they let it go on. Now suddenly when kids are going to put up posters for these suspended seniors, the school and police are ready and waiting to nab the culprits. What changed? By the way do you really think those kids broke into the school? They had a key. You know they did.
Clickker 1 year ago
The first "pranks" were preapproved by the admin, and Brungart was even there. The second one...the alleged hazing , was not. Although for the principal to be there, he would have had to trespass in someones home! Third incident was not really a prank..more of a protest, and it was not approved.
concernedeudoravoter 1 year ago
I would suggest to those of you that don't approve of or like the disciplinary measures (as defined in policy documents), that it is time you run for school board. Policies as approved are not open for interpretation. You do 'X' and 'Y' is going to happen. I honestly believe that the lack of prosecution/discipline to those guilty of the first senior 'prank' at Eudora High School last year led to the tens of thousands of dollars of damage to the new stadium during another 'prank.' If these were adults, oh wait they probably are 18 as seniors and are adults, and they broke into a school, or another building, they would be prosecuted. What is the difference?
cheeseburger 1 year ago
I agree with you in theory, but Brungardt is ineffective and inconsistent in the enforcement of discipline. He lets kids get away with a lot of stuff because he is afraid of ramifications. Apparently he wasn't too scared of Mr. Henrichs in suspending his son for a supervised head shave of his other son, deemed hazing by Brungardt. While I do not endorse hazing, if the younger Henrichs boy had his head shaved with the permission and supervision of the father, I do not see how Brungardt reaches into the home to effect school discipline.
LadyJ 1 year ago
Wasn't there a prank one year involving letting the oil out of the school buses? Seem to remember that one ending costing some real money. Can't remember their punishment but I don't think they were punished much by the school.
tanaumaga 1 year ago
Yeah, The EPA folks were involved in that one.
armywife 1 year ago
yes and there wasn't much done due to the fact it was one of our local judges son involved.....it cost a great deal of money for clean up and to replace everything....
lionsrock 1 year ago
Hitler Brungart strikes again!!!
mdab1609 1 year ago
Oh, wow. You do not agree with someone so you compare them to Hitler.
Very effective!
Paul R. Getto 1 year ago
Never pulled much myself; hard to get out of the house. When I was assistant principal, the seniors brought an outhouse to town, put it in the parking lot and painted my name and the principal's name on it. That was pretty funny; wish I had taken a picture. When I was a principal, they sacrificed a chicken on my school bus and poured a gallon of honey on the porch. The possum who lived under the house cleaned that up pretty quickly.
starburst 1 year ago
I think senior pranks are great as long as they don't cause vandalism or injury. I remember teaching at one school where students moved the furniture from several classes outside, essentially setting up "outdoor" classrooms. Another year two teachers entered their classrooms and everything (furniture, posters, etc.) had been switched with another teacher's room. The best, though, was a story I heard from a teacher in another state. The students let three pigs loose in the school, but numbered them with paint: 1, 2, 4. The three were caught quickly, but they kept administrators busy for awhile looking for the nonexistent number 3. Schools need to lighten up a little bit, and let students create lifelong memories.
jhawkinsf 1 year ago
I think these kids would look good wearing orange vests and picking up a little trash along the highway. And it's good exercise, I hear.
Two weekends of that and their record is expunged.
Justice.
Cant_have_it_both_ways 1 year ago
So does trespassing include when you are walking your dog and it takes a dump in my yard?
If so, can your dog be arrested?
misplacedcheesehead 1 year ago
I was still in grade school when the seniors in our town pulled the greatest prank of all time. Keep in mind this was a very small town, about 750 people (counting the farm kids) back then. Everyone knew where all the teachers and principal lived. They went to the principal's driveway, took apart his "Bug", took the parts a few blocks east, and reassembled the car on the roof of the high school. Obviously carried out with the help of advanced auto mechanics class.
armywife 1 year ago
My brothers class in the early 70s at LHS took apart a VW Bug, transported every part into LHS and reassembled it....Mr. Rife wasn't too happy at the time but when I got to LHS in the 80s he thought it was pretty comical....needless to say my senior year he watched me pretty closely LOL....We also had a teacher that told us about his senior prank at LHS. A huge group of seniors decided that at graduation they'd all put doves under their gowns and let them go at a certain time.....needless to say when the time came and they all opened up their gowns, every single dove dropped to the ground.....yep it was so hot that day that none of them thought about the doves maybe kicking it before they released them....Oh yeah not a good prank at all!
juma 1 year ago
I graduated from a small rural town in 1968. All the above stories are the usual 'back then' BEFORE 9/11 and all the terrible and stupid and non-human acts of mohammedans. Today is not yesterday. It is very sad that our world is no longer the innocent and happy-go-lucky place that it was. The police did the right thing; and they responded properly.
RaynRavyn 1 year ago
Not all! Our shenanigans were 03! Lmao
merrill 1 year ago
They were missing their alma mater ..... probably grieving.
sugar111111 1 year ago
Dude, society has gotten very serious. My teacher at LHS said in the 70's the auto tech class disassembled the principal's VW Bug and hoisted it piece by piece onto the top of the gym building and reassembled the car. That was the prank and everybody thought it was funny and nobody got in trouble. A teacher at LHS told me the when he was attending school there in the late 70's, a number of troublemakers got known for riding their motorcycles through the halls. The worst anybody got was a call to the parents and study hall. More than once someone did a full on smoky burnout in the main area near the cafeteria, filling the school with burnt rubber smoke. Today the same prank would probably get you arrested, suspended or even charged as a terrorist for using a chemical weapon to incite panic. I'm glad these students are not being charged formally with trespassing by the cops, at least according to the article.
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