Vandalism that shut down Indian Hill schools Friday served as a reminder that another school year is coming to a close.

        Tires on 26 of the district's 33 buses were deflated at the transportation office on Drake Road, causing school officials to initially delay, then close, schools. The incident prevented nearly all of the district's 2,250 students from attending school Friday.

        Indian Hill High School also was vandalized overnight with graffiti on walkways and door locks jammed with a sticky substance.

Mechanic Jim Lambert finishes up his inspection of damage to 26 Indian Hill school buses Friday. (Glenn Hartong photo) | ZOOM |

        Friday's incident was the second time this week that a Tristate high school was vandalized. At Badin High School in Hamilton, a load of pig manure was dumped on school property early Wednesday.

        With graduation just weeks away, some students apparently are conjuring up ways to leave their mark. Senior pranks are rituals in many schools, but officials stress that pranks have serious consequences.

        “Historically, kids here have not done anything destructive,” said Larry Hook, principal at Milford High School. ""It's not something we would tolerate.”

        Punishment ranges from criminal charges to loss of high school graduation ceremony privileges, he said.

        But even Mr. Hook has engaged in a harmless prank or two, he said. Last year, he came to the high school on a Sunday to help students fill a retiring senior class adviser's classroom with thousands of balloons.

        The problem is when pranks turn destructive.

        At Indian Hill High School, a paper banner with the word “seniors” on it was found hung on the school Friday. That was the last day of classes for most seniors before they begin work on senior projects, which many have been preparing since October. Those projects are now on hold.

        “Obviously it was a small number of students being neither clever nor witty, but destructive,” Indian Hill Superintendent David Quattrone said.

        Participants could face charges of criminal damaging, vandalism or disrupting a public utility - all of which could be felony charges, said Indian Hill Lt. Rich White.

        In 1998, 11 Fairfield High School students were arrested and faced criminal charges for a prank in which they allegedly removed a 700-pound fiberglass elephant and two larger-than-life snails from Jungle Jim's Market on Dixie Highway. A deal was brokered to drop the charges for students who completed eight days of community service.

        While Mr. Quattrone said he hopes not to cancel the two-week-long senior project privileges, “We're doing everything we can to put pressure on kids to identify themselves.”

        Indian Hill senior Whitney Roberts, 18, is worried her senior project is in jeopardy. She was to study cooking from her German heritage, which included a cooking class and meal preparation with family members of students in her group.

        “I'm afraid people will label our whole senior class as having done this, but this is not typical of our senior class,” she said.
       

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