School's doors glued shut as part of prank

May 26, 2005|By Don Aines

GREENCASTLE, Pa. - Three Greencastle-Antrim High School seniors will face a disciplinary hearing next week for allegedly gluing the school's exterior doors shut over the weekend, Principal Jack Appleby said Wednesday.

A group of other students caught building cinder-block barriers at the entrance and exit to the school have received warnings, but will not be subject to disciplinary proceedings, Appleby said.

"Every year, you get a senior prank and it was pretty novel," Appleby said of the cinder-block walls, which a group of students were found assembling Sunday morning by Greencastle police.

"The kids who were doing it were good kids," Appleby said.

Although the cinder blocks were being cemented together, he said the students were building the barriers on plywood so that they could be removed.

On Monday, however, it was discovered that the locks on the school's 58 exterior doors were glued shut. Three students have confessed and will go before a panel of three school board members next week for possible disciplinary action, Appleby said.

"They will be responsible for the expense of repairs," Appleby said.

A locksmith had been to the school to estimate the cost of the damage, he said.

Those three students also could face charges from borough police, though Appleby said no charges had been filed as of Wednesday. He said police were awaiting estimates on the damage.

"It's been a learning experience for them," he said of the students involved in both pranks.

While senior pranks are something a high school principal comes to expect toward the end of each school year, Appleby said they usually are relatively harmless and don't involve property damage.

"This is one that just got out of hand," he said.

- Don Aines

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