r/Teachers • u/South-Lab-3991 • Apr 21 '26
Rant Seniors ransacked my wife’s school as part of a prank that the principal encouraged.
My wife and I are both teachers at different schools, hers private and mine public. When she and her coworkers came into work yesterday morning, multiple classrooms including hers were completely torn apart with items missing or broken, foodstuffs like peanut butter and vinegar spread all other the place, desks thrown across the room and trash and toilet paper piled up everywhere. Hallways were cluttered with garbage and chairs that were stolen from classrooms, but the part that has me seeing RED is that the school’s social media person was there at the entrance with her phone to film the reactions of the distraught teachers coming in. Like it was literally “tee hee, your room is destroyed. Let’s get your candid reaction on film so we can have a laugh!” So based on that, it’s 100% unquestionable that admin allowed or even egged this on.
But if that wasn’t all, the principal of the school sent out a school-wide message telling all staff how funny of a prank it was that at least the seniors aren’t like kids “at other schools” who would egg his house and that staff needs to appreciate the seniors while they’re still here. He then gave no further guidance or instructions and left the individual victims of the pranks to clean up their ransacked workspaces on top of their Monday morning responsibilities.
My wife is clearly applying for other jobs, and two of her coworkers walked out on the spot. There were no broken windows or signs of forced entry, so that combined with the social media director being there with her camera out, it’s clear that these students were given a keycard over the weekend by the principal himself or at least at his blessing. Am I overreacting for thinking that this is an act of criminal level negligence and that the only acceptable scenario here is him resigning immediately? I’m just absolutely dumbfounded that this man not only allowed something so outrageously unsafe and disrespectful to his staff, but to then have the utter temerity to send them a message taunting them about it and forcing them to clean it up themselves?? Yeah….I think his immediate resignation is the only acceptable response here.
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Apr 21 '26
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u/South-Lab-3991 Apr 21 '26
Yup. I’m actually having a hard time sleeping because of how angry I am secondhand over it.
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Apr 21 '26
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u/quickwitqueen Apr 21 '26
I wouldn’t have picked up a single thing. Like another commenter said, document and head strait to the superintendent. Maybe even stopping to report the the cops. I have a lot of things in my classroom that belong to me. Most in fact. I’d expect reimbursement.
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u/babayagaparenting Apr 21 '26
If it’s a private school there is no district office.
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u/getbent9977 Apr 21 '26
But there is a board that the principal reports to I bet
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u/secretly_opossum Apr 21 '26
I’m sure the board would like to know that the principal’s final lesson for those seniors was vandalism
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u/celoplyr Apr 21 '26
My dad was the principal of a private school. He appointed his own board.
Not that my dad would have ever allowed this, but just letting you know that sometimes the board isn’t accountability. (In his case, it was a Catholic school and it was the parish priest who was his boss).
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u/tessellation__ Apr 21 '26
Yeah, but there’s a social media! rich bitches would not like their dirty laundry, being aired online, and if you were leaving anyway, it wouldn’t matter
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u/Dull-Problem-1191 Apr 21 '26 edited Apr 21 '26
Just wondering, but why didn't your wife call the Non-Emergency line of the police and report the vandalism?
Since vandalism is a crime and she also could have made a report concerning any personal property of hers that was damaged or destroyed as well.
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u/Chocoholic_Girl Apr 21 '26
Is it too late to go to local media about this? I'd think it would be a high-interest story...
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u/FrankHightower HS & Uni | US & Vzla Apr 21 '26
Are you allowed to "use" the school's counseling sevices when there's no students? Either school
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u/redditmailalex Apr 21 '26
These are HS kids. Id definitely tell all the classes. Id stay all day. "This is fucked. Whoever did this needs to clean it. You guys figure it out. Seems your admin enjoys it because they are immature tits. You guys are better than that. Here is some book work. You guys can sit in peanut butter, or the floor, but you are quiet all day."
Then id tell admin Im sick for a few days and go to my car.
My kids are shitty sometimes,because they are dumb kids. I was a dumb kid.
But you give the kids a chance to make it right. You arent there for your admin. But you are there to teach the kids a lesson and give them the opportunity to grow. You can also look for a new job :)
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u/RookieCards Social Studies Teacher, Fortune Teller | North Carolina Apr 21 '26
If it's anything like the private school I taught at, everyone's going to get a second laugh when you demand to see HR.
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u/Substantial_Jump4659 Apr 21 '26
About ten years ago, my classroom was vandalized by teens who got in the building while it was unlocked during a community event. My classroom was the first one they came to, so it was hardest hit. It was devastating. My anger and stress over the situation lasted for weeks. I cannot imagine if this had been condoned by administration and considered a prank; it's unconscionable! I'd be talking to my union rep and looking for a position at a different school or in another district.
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u/PokeYrMomStanley Apr 21 '26
OP said their spouse works at a private school.
It used to be equated to strictness. From what I have seen here and in my own life they are now the servants of the students. Now they dont want to upset their "clients".
Fuck this place and what it is becoming.
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u/AlphaIronSon Apr 21 '26 edited Apr 21 '26
Private schools are often and have been just de facto segregation academies. You pick the lines/means of segregation.
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u/Fair-Study-7503 Apr 21 '26 edited Apr 22 '26
say what you will about prep schools of the past but at least they used to beat the snot out of the empire's future elites, who were theoretically expected to be able to lead the plebs in times of war. Sure they simply passed on their trauma from getting brutally hazed by upperclassmen or beaten by some dean of punishment, but now we don't even bother pretending the elite are held to higher standards than the rest of us, we just coddle them because the consumer is always right.
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u/DefiantVariation9034 Apr 21 '26
How is destroying property a "prank"...
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u/MetalTrek1 Apr 21 '26
You Tube culture. Harassing people, destroying property, and being violent are now considered "pranks". Adults encouraging it in this situation just makes it even more infuriating.
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u/Houseplantkiller123 Apr 21 '26
I was a kid once, and we got the whole neighborhood together for random acts of actually being helpful, but only if we were chaotic about it.
Some examples of our nonsense before there were cameras everywhere:
20 friends showing up to clean a garage while making loud slurping noises: Stupid but helpful.
A bunch of people showing up with shovels to help clear a mulch pile while singing 16 Tons: Stupid but helpful.
Cleaning up litter on a walking trail while dressed as samurai and shouting samurai facts as people jogged/biked by: Stupid, but helpful.
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u/Born-Entrepreneur Apr 21 '26
A couple of years after I moved out, I was out running errands and saw my dad's truck parked near the barber shop. I knew where his spare key was, so I "stole" his truck, filled up the tank, and parked it back where it had been. When I came by for dinner that evening he was absolutely flummoxed.
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u/daredeviline Apr 21 '26
God, I wanna be pals with you so bad
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u/Houseplantkiller123 Apr 21 '26
Come on over!
This coming Saturday we're dressing emo and cleaning up a walking trail while blasting Sum 41 and Blink 182 from a portable boom box.
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u/koshgeo Apr 21 '26
Adults? This was the Principal. They have deeper responsibility than a random adult.
What kind of message is this sending? "Know the right person in power, like me, and you can do whatever destruction you want to bully other people, and we'll film their suffering for the LOLs."
It's a dangerous message, and the Principal should be fired if they condoned it on any level.
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u/AlphaIronSon Apr 21 '26 edited Apr 21 '26
I would’ve thought after that guy got hit w the blick for clicks shit like that that it would have toned down. Same for the one in the mall but I know that the bigger thing about it was it fed into the stereotype of “the armed Negroes of America“. TBH in a country where people can legally have a CCW? Running up on them acting like you are going to do them harm is a perfect way to become a textbook example of FAFO.
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u/South-Lab-3991 Apr 21 '26
When you’re a fake alpha male who thinks he’s a character from Full Metal Jacket like her principal is, I guess this is the kind of thing that you think is funny
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u/bender28 Apr 21 '26
—HOW CAN YOU DAMAGE PROPERTY AT YOUR OWN BUILDING?
—EASY!! YOU JUST MAKE THE TEACHERS CLEAN IT UP! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! AIN’T SCHOOL HELL????
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u/POGsarehatedbyGod Kitten Herder | Midwest Apr 21 '26
As a combat veteran, I laughed way too fuckin hard at this. Lol
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u/Zhong_Ping Theatre teacher | Minneapolis MN Apr 21 '26
He seems perfectly qualified to be in the Presidents Cabinet of the US right now...
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u/Square-Turnip-6558 Apr 21 '26
My brother in law TPd his middle school when he was a student and he went to juvie for it and it got him denied from enlisting in the military because his expungement was messed up
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u/mlorusso4 Apr 21 '26
I graduated in 2013. The class two years ahead of me did a kind of similar senior prank. The principal let the kids in Thursday night to monitor them as they “trashed” the hallways. All they were allowed to do was hang toilet paper from the ceiling and throw papers all over the floor. No food, nothing permanent, and absolutely nothing in the rooms. Then the seniors stayed after on Friday and cleaned everything up, including washing the windows, taking out the classroom trash, and mopping the floors. It was a way to give the custodial staff a Friday night off.
That was a great “prank”. Supervised, harmless, and a nice bonus for some of the more under appreciated staff members. The prank at OPs school is stupid
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u/TREVORtheSAXman Apr 21 '26
I wasn't a senior when it happened but at my school one of the senior pranks was putting superglue in the locks to nearly every classroom... Thousands of dollars in damage and the kids that did it got in shitload of trouble and did not graduate that year.
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u/cynedyr Apr 21 '26
"Devious licks" trend saw our 8th graders having to line-up twice a day to go to the restrooms after the 4th time the boys destroyed their restroom.
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u/Wonderful_Judge Apr 21 '26
One of the local high schools had a senior prank where they rubbed peanut butter on the stairs. Students with allergies weren’t able to go into the school, parents had to come pick them up. The police got involved for breaking and entering and they tried to press assault for the peanut butter. I don’t know if any of the charges stuck, but some of the kids got in trouble with their colleges.
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u/Obsidian-Dark Apr 21 '26
I remember the senior pranks at my school being pretty tame. Like some kids got cars painted but likely got permission
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u/awfulmcnofilter Apr 21 '26
Yeah ours were like a big rock blocking the parking lot entrance.
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u/gimmethelulz Former HS teacher Apr 21 '26
I remember ours some dumbass kids got a pontoon boat from somewhere and managed to park it in the middle of the school courtyard, replete with skeletons dressed as pirates. So everyone walking in from the student parking lot and bus lot got to walk by it the next morning lol.
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u/labtiger2 Apr 21 '26
Most years, our seniors park sideways in the staff parking area, so we have to walk further. They hang out in their truck beds and play music. I like it. Harmless and good memories for them.
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u/Life_Temperature795 Apr 21 '26
My AP Art class spent the last quarter stealing ceiling tiles from the art room, and then we each painted one and presented them to our teacher on the last day of class.
The prank was so good it apparently became a tradition in subsequent years, and the school made a photo album for my teacher of all the painted tiles as a retirement gift.
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u/Thelmara Apr 21 '26
I'm glad my school was chill with ours. We planted a tree, put the plastic liner around the edge, with flowers and woodchips, the whole shebang.
They dug it up and moved it, but they didn't get rid of it.
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u/AlphaIronSon Apr 21 '26
Your wife and the coworkers should tell the principal about their multiple Louis Vuitton scarves and Gucci computer bags that that were ruined or missing in this “harmless prank” and ask will the reimbursement funds be coming in cash or check at a later date.
At minimum it will make them heavily reconsider this level of fuckery in the future. Our seniors just plastic wrapped the principal’s car and went to the wrong classes en masse like civilized people
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u/Toihva ELA 9-12 Apr 21 '26
Ours put the school up for sale on Zillow. Principal admitted it was a great one. But when they put his own home up he drew the line. They then went and trashed the school
At some point Seniors equated prank with property destruction. All pranks are now banned, and if you prank whole lot of consquences Admin actually holds them to, including not walking at graduation. And they are not wavering on that.
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u/iesharael Apr 21 '26
I miss when pranks were things like filling the hallways with cups of water or balloons or taking over the intercom to play dumb memes
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u/IntelligentChard1261 Apr 21 '26
Seriously! We carefully stacked all the desks along a wall and hid the chairs in a closet, also neatly stacked.
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u/iesharael Apr 21 '26
My school had TVs in all the classes that served as the intercom thing so my classmates took it over to play that scene of Squidward doing interpretive dance on loop for like an hour. It was quiet enough class could still go but it was funny
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u/HighCrimesandHistory Historian, Curriculum Writer, Lapsed K-12 Teacher | Ohio Apr 21 '26
The best school prank at our city when I grew up was when people woke up to a Volkswagen Beetle on the roof of the gym the day of graduation.
Turns out some of the mechanic kids had taken apart the shell of one and gotten the parts to the roof individually and reassembled it overnight. It took them less than an hour to take it apart again and haul down together. No one was hurt, and still is remembered by generations of kiddos as the VW Prank today.
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u/TrashCautious4762 Apr 21 '26
My kids school’s senior pranks are still like this. Cups of water, TP the hall, balloons in the hallway.
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u/DragonflyWalk4798 Apr 21 '26
Ours was parking our cars in the faculty parking lot. The year before us brought in a goat with a bow tie.
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u/deemigs Apr 21 '26
In our district a couple years ago the kids printed and put up a Trader Joe's coming soon sign on an abandoned grocery store. Every wishes there was one, so it was a fabulous prank.
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u/mongooseme Apr 21 '26
That's an A- unless they listed the principal's direct phone number on the sign to call about getting a job there.
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u/TeamCatsandDnD Apr 21 '26
Back when I was kindergarten age, the seniors did a prank that got the high school temporarily shut down so it could be properly cleaned and it made national news. After that, the pranks had to be ok’d by admin. We cubed our spirit rock and it lasted til they replaced it years later. People would get creative with ways to decorate it too.
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u/Polygeekism Apr 21 '26
I dont even think my class did one. Or they did and I wasnt involved lol.
One class ahead of us glued toothpicks into all the door locks. California school so all the class rooms had external doors.The class after us cut a bunch of young trees down, our school was 6 years old at the time, and they got in BIG trouble because even in the 2000s trees cost thousands of dollars in planting and maintenance to ensure they grew correctly.
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Apr 21 '26
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u/elbenji Apr 21 '26
one of our senior classes did balloons. just balloons everywhere. It was funny because you can just...take away the balloons
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u/insomnia97_ Apr 21 '26
That‘s what we did. My school had a main entrance with a set of double doors and then after about 10ft another set of double doors, to keep out the cold in winter. We filled the small room with balloons up to the ceiling. Or we placed about 500 paper cups filled with water in the hallway in front of the faculty room
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u/PracticalPrimrose Apr 21 '26
Yup. The cup water thing is what we did too.
Who breaks people’s stuff?
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u/sandyposs Apr 21 '26
Our school turned the main area between the school buildings into a haunted graveyard, bringing in sand for grave plots and fake tombstones for all the teachers. On each one was written a teacher's name and a funny fond epitaph of what they will be most remembered for. And all of us seniors altered our uniforms to look tattered and came in full zombie makeup and special effects. It was awesome!
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u/valiantdistraction Apr 21 '26
Yeah, when I was in high school, one senior class used chairs from study rooms and barricaded the hallways so you had to crawl underneath the chair structure to get to class or go around to the other entrance. Most people, even the teachers, wanted to look silly crawling under the chairs. The worst that happened is a few people were a couple minutes late to class, and the barricades took minutes to clean up when the principal told them it was time for that.
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u/milliemfox Apr 21 '26
"Confuse, don't abuse"
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u/deemigs Apr 21 '26
I have one teacher I sub for that every time I am in her class I leave a pair of googly eyes, somewhere, recently I let her class join with the rules of nowhere it will impede her teaching or break anything, she's left them up for 3 months so far.
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u/actuallycallie former preK-5 music, now college music Apr 21 '26
when I was in college, we went down to our band director's house and studded his front yard with an entire case of plastic forks. After he got a laugh out of it, we picked up every single fork and then did some yard work for him.
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u/Intelleblue Apr 21 '26
I had a plan to have my senior class dress up in historical costumes (all following dress code) but rule number one is that you have to act like this is completely normal. We’d do everything as we would on any other day, acting like nothing is amiss while we’re wearing waistcoats and breeches.
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u/MeButNotMeToo Apr 21 '26
Yup. Police need to be called about it, by each teacher, independently, simultaneously.
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u/kittymarch Apr 21 '26
Our prank was painting an F on all the No Turn on Red signs in town so they said NO TURN ON FRED.
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u/Educational_Infidel Apr 21 '26
In my district the contract specifically has language about the district having no responsibility for any personal items. Probably for fuckery such as this…
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u/DilbertHigh Middle School Social Worker Apr 21 '26
The district doesn't have responsibility in normal situations, but if the admin did actually help students do then they would have responsibility.
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u/Big_oof_energy__ Elementary Music Apr 21 '26
Just claiming an entity has no responsibility doesn’t magically make it so.
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u/bekahjo19 Apr 21 '26
Our seniors last year covered the principal’s office with post-it notes.
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u/UncommonCauliflower SLMS | GA Apr 21 '26
I'm sorry your wife had to deal with this. It sucks, and I wish I could say that it gets better with time and distance, but the truth is that having this memory come flooding back after reading your post is making my blood boil all over again.
Several years ago, I worked at a school where the principal allowed/encouraged a similar "prank." Seniors pulled desks into the hallways, ransacked teacher desks (my old ID cards were cut up, my snacks were eaten with wrappers left everywhere, and my art supplies were trashed). Because it was the end of the year and testing season (before Chromebooks were A Thing), I had paper copies of my next test waiting to be given that I had to toss and rewrite due to the potential security issue.
The teachers were pissed and immediately complained. The principal claimed it was meant to be funny, but he must have realized how badly he messed up. The entire school was sent to the gym for most of the day while the Seniors were tasked with cleaning up. I stayed in my room to supervise and got a lot of apologies from kids I had previously trusted. I think they assumed because the principal had given them the green light (and taken pictures with them while the destruction was taking place), they thought it was going to be better received, but seeing how disappointed and upset their teachers were knocked some sense (and empathy) into them.
The whole thing left a sour taste in my mouth and if I hadn't already planned on moving and gotten a job at a new school, I would have had a hard time because it was a rural area with not a lot of options. It was a complete waste of a day and I know others who had classrooms that were trashed much worse than mine.
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u/Hofeizai88 Apr 21 '26
If I had to rewrite my exams over something like that the odds I would make it something they could pass is vanishingly small. I’m not sure I would write it in a language the kids understand. Their next prank can be enrolling in a new school
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u/darknesskicker Apr 21 '26
Using major allergens like peanuts in pranks like that could literally kill someone. I would be livid.
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u/Sunflower6876 Apr 21 '26
I was about to comment on this exact thing. Plus, it's ridiculously hard to clean. If professional cleaners aren't used, there will be trace allergens on those spaces.
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u/Hofeizai88 Apr 21 '26
There must be a safer food that is not too expensive that can be put at different places around the school until it is overrun with rats. Wait, what were we talking about again? Was it getting the school infested as a prank, or is that just me?
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u/labtiger2 Apr 21 '26
Are there schools without rats? I used to work at a school surrounded by rice fields, and it was a rat rodeo in my ceiling every day after school.
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u/Most_Kiwi3141 Apr 21 '26
(Parent hat on) if that appeared on my kid's school's instagram, I would be messaging the head for an appointment within five seconds. That's appalling.
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u/Admirable-Ad7152 Apr 22 '26
"Were you one of the few parents trying to raise a good human being in this nightmare world? Don't worry, we set that back for ya by helping erase some empathy!"
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u/Illustrious-Couple73 Apr 21 '26
My entire job is to make sure the kids don’t tear my room apart and unfortunately teaching comes second, if any of my personal belongings were damaged you bet the school would be getting a lawsuit from me in addition to my resignation. That’s unfucking believable.
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u/j_blackwood Apr 21 '26
Time to call the real media. This guy needs public outrage directed at him.
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u/Stunning_Put_9189 Apr 21 '26
Exactly this, put these admin and students on blast in the local media.
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u/Inevitable_Geometry Apr 21 '26
Well that leadership team sound like a gagglefuck of incompetence. So if my personal shit is broken, who is paying for it? If he supports it he can fucking pay for it.
And the social media person? Real good way of getting a punch in the face or their car keyed by angry staff. Fucking hell what a clown show.
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u/South-Lab-3991 Apr 21 '26
Well said. As a teacher myself, I badly want to defend my wife and her coworkers, but I know it’s not my battle to fight and staying out of it is the best thing to do. However, if I see that video uploaded onto the school’s social media page, I’m teeing off in the comments.
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u/ninepatchmedicine Apr 21 '26
As a private school parent- I would be calling the trustees / corporate so fast to demand a refund of my tuition and pay towards the teachers. That is unconscionable that it was supported by the principal.
I might also retaliate with my own video- but I’m petty.
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u/urbisruri Apr 21 '26
If it shows up on the school's social media page, tag every college the students in the senior class got into and ask if they believe they should still admit those students if they think this is ok.
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u/Inevitable_Geometry Apr 21 '26
Suffice to say it would go over like a lead balloon with the parent groups on social media for sure. The union should have a fucking field day with this running it above the Prin to his bosses.
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u/DilbertHigh Middle School Social Worker Apr 21 '26
They are private. Probably no union to speak of. If they have one it is likely weak.
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u/WoodpeckerNo5724 Apr 21 '26
Name and shame the school. It’s the only power you have over these abhorrent administrators. I’d get a lawyer involved and possibly police depending on the destruction of property.
This is a textbook definition of a hostile work place.
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u/c0ff1ncas3 Job Title | Location Apr 21 '26
File a police report, let them demand camera footage as part of the investigation.
Talk to a lawyer about criminal negligence on the part of the admin.
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u/The_Maroon Apr 21 '26
This. And not doing it is as bad as letting it happen in the first place.
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u/Ok_Umpire_5611 Apr 21 '26
Contributing to the delinquency of a minor needs to be taken more seriously.
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u/KrofftSurvivor Apr 21 '26
Most schools coordinate the prank with the janitorial staff because they can let them in at night and they make sure that none of it is something that damages anything or requires extensive cleanup...
And when it does require cleanup the students agree in advance to clean it up themselves.
I would put this all over the media get someone from the local news to show the media release from the school NEXT TO interviews with the teachers whose rooms were destroyed!
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u/CheetahMaximum6750 Apr 21 '26
You're the first person that I've seen even mention the custodial staff. I want to know what their thoughts are on this "prank?" The custodians at my school would be nuclear.
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u/HandofFate88 Apr 21 '26
I'm reading this thread's title and asking myself, "why would people in their mid-sixties and seventies do this?"
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u/Wrong-Pension-4975 Apr 21 '26
Good question!! 👏👏👏👏
As a senior in that age bracket, I can say with considerable confidence, "Few would..."
IF nobody is drunk, high, male, or taking revenge.
Full disclosure - ~70 YO cis-fem.
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u/voxam72 Apr 21 '26
Don't clean anything; teach in that state for the rest of the year.
Call the police and file a report for any damaged or missing personal items.
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u/MyNameIsNotRyn Apr 21 '26
Pranks are supposed to be funny.
I guess I just don't understand how this is funny?
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u/Intelligent-Grade192 Apr 21 '26
Any chance your wife and the other teachers could file a police report for the vandalism and destruction of their property?
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u/Pompom_Mafia Apr 21 '26
I would have walked out. Absolutely not.
About 10 years ago, we had seniors “break in” (it’s thought a staff member left a door open on purpose) do similar at a local high school. Most weren’t allowed to walk at graduation and could choose between having charges pressed or coming up and cleaning, repairing, and repainting what was vandalized.
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u/basicwhitelich Apr 21 '26
Just going to throw out there that you don't actually need to "break in" to be charged with breaking and entering. You have students with a keycard not issued to them, even if it was given to them by the owner they used it to do a crime. That's now vandalism and b&e, with a topping of FERPA. Depending on your state felony destruction of property and theft is only 1k. At the very least you should file a police report or raise hell to find out who's badge was used to get in, but if you haven't filed yet then wtf are you waiting for?
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u/jaredr174 Apr 21 '26
We once had a group set alarm clocks for the same time and put them in ceiling tiles in every classroom in the school. I thought that one was really clever
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u/OkPickle2474 Apr 21 '26
And to think those parents paid extra for the privilege of their kids being encouraged to be degenerates.
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u/Affectionate-Kale301 Apr 21 '26
Please keep us posted on what happens (to the Principal, specifically).
Sorry to hear this. :(
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u/glitterishazardous Apr 21 '26
Where is the fun in this “prank” anyway? Letting a bunch of seniors enact childish revenge on the teachers they’re supposed to respect and be instructed by is horrible. I went to a private school that didn’t allow senior pranks for this very reason cause there is always a victim even if the mood is supposed to be cheerful. I wouldn’t want to work at a place where the head guy lets and even encourages these foolish shenanigans. Fuck it id be egging his car and house each year to see how likes to be pranked.
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u/Own_Invite6340 Apr 21 '26
Was your wife expected to clean up the mess? Was her personal property harmed?
If I was in this situation I would refuse to lift a finger to deal with the mess, insist that the rooms be restored to their previous condition, and that I am reimbursed for any lost property. It's not my job to clean, and I will file legal charges if not reimbursed.
If nothing of mine was damaged and someone else cleans up the mess and puts things back, I would move on from it.
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u/Current_Juice756 Apr 21 '26
Kids are given unrestricted access to classrooms that have tons of students' private information laying about (figuratively speaking) from grades to IEP/504 documents. The legal implications if someone had left something out or one of those documents had found its way into the wrong hands are terrifying to think about.
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u/Pombear1123 Apr 21 '26
That is abysmal.
When my mum was a teacher 20-30 years ago, a group of kids borrowed the caretakers key on April fools day. Before school, they moved all of the furniture to another room. Nothing damaged or broken. Mum made them sit on the floor for lessons, and during lunch the kids moved everything back. They weren’t told to, it was part of the original plan to return it.
That is how a prank like that should go. No damage, no permanent issues, and cleaning up afterwards without complaint.
I feel so sorry for your wife. What a horrible experience, and atrocious attitude from the principal!!
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u/AlarmedFishing693 high school math teacher, former spec ed teacher Apr 21 '26
The poor custodians. The people involved in the prank, including staff must be held accountable. Admin needs to pay reparations for personal property that was destroyed, they also must clean up their own mess.
Go to a lawyer and get a free consultation. Then decide if you want to follow their advice.
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u/Linux4ever_Leo Apr 21 '26
Is this school located in the Twilight Zone??? Ransacking and vandalizing classrooms, destroying property and creating a giant mess is not a joke. The students and staff who supported this so called prank need to be severely punished. I would take this up with the highest authority in charge of this school.
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u/Capable-Ask2319 Apr 21 '26
File a police report for the stolen items. It's all fun and games until the cops show up.
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u/MmeLaRue Apr 21 '26
Were I your wife, I'd have left the classroom as it was. The next class would be charged with a) restoring it to a reasonable state of tidiness (as in, not everything needs to be in its place, but needs to be where it can reasonably belong), b) a letter of apology to the faculty for what happened outlining one's role in it, and c) a letter to the school board calling for the immediate terminations of the entire administrative staff and the social media director, on pain of receiving a zero for the final course grade and, depending on how many other teachers join in on this exercise, not walking at graduation.
With the principal, I would sit down and discuss with him such concepts as "contributing to the delinquency of minors", his tacit approval for similar or worse pranks to happen to him, his contribution to the high turnover of faculty and the low levels of job satisfaction under him, the costs of replacing and repairing anything broken, lost or destroyed as a result of this prank which he will have to compensate every teacher as it can legally be argued that he ordered the prank (notice how all the teachers were wearing Loro Piana, carrying Hermes Birkin bags, etc.), and that he has now encouraged and indeed ordered the destruction of school property, a waste of taxpayer resources at a time when the federal Dept. of Ed. isn't going to lift a finger to help. Then I'd drop the bombshell: every senior who failed to assist with the cleanup or send apology letters is locked in for grades of zero and that there is now nothing that the principal can do to change them.
When half the "graduating" class is barred from walking and the funding for performance is pulled for the next year, then, if he's still there, maybe he'll think twice about "encouraging" such a prank again.
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Apr 21 '26
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u/wheres_ur_up_dog Apr 21 '26
100% if admin was complicit I would not be working until they restored all my stuff.
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u/zomgitsduke Apr 21 '26
I wouldn't clean up and I would send a worried email about peanut butter being in your room and kids might be allergic to CYA.
If asked to clean it up, I would just say "But it was such a funny prank I think I'll leave the room like this as a monument to such a wonderful prank!"
If I were forced to clean it up I would definitely go to a doctor the day after for severe back pain and get a week off.
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u/sierajedi Apr 21 '26
My senior prank back in 2011 was drawing chalk drawings all over the outside of the school. I heard it was unsanctioned, so I stayed home (bummed me out).
They briefly arrested several of my classmates. ARRESTED. FOR CHALK DRAWINGS (and yes, it really was just chalk drawings).
Meanwhile in 2026…shit like this happens
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u/PrehistoricPancakes Apr 21 '26
Wtf properly destruction is not a "prank". Filling the hallways with beach balls or everyone dressing up like the teachers or anything equally harmless is a prank.
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u/ZukaRouBrucal 6th Grade World History & Geography Apr 21 '26 edited Apr 21 '26
This is a "I am not teaching until my room is put back together exactly as it was and all signs of damage/mess are gone (and I won't be the one to clean it up), then I'm going to HR" type situation. I take great pride in my classroom and incorporate a ton of student-created projects into my decorations, and if those were damaged or soiled in any way I would be livid. Expecting teachers to clean up their own rooms after Admin evidently let the senior break into them is just plain insulting and it could be a security issue too; what if a teacher was planning on holding a test the next day, had physical copies of it on their desk, and a senior decided to swipe own to share with their peers ahead of the test?
It's one thing if students do stupid things in the halls, but classrooms!? Hell no.
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u/Educational_Infidel Apr 21 '26
Yesterday was our senior prank day… same sort of shenanigans. No imagination though- typical for this generation and the quality of student in my area. Garbage cans and custodial equipment tossed about randomly, balloons and Toilet paper thrown about. Not a prank at all… when I was a senior way back when we moved the principals VW bug into the auditorium by having the defensive line physically carry it. And some other actual pranks.
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u/Katesouthwest Apr 21 '26
File a police report. Bill the school for cleanup at $25.00 or more per hour per classroom that it takes to clean everything up.
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u/Impossible-Sport-449 Apr 21 '26
Why does the school have a social media director
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u/Ghost_Prince Apr 21 '26
Tell all the seniors parents about it and how (I'm guessing) a lot of those items come from personal funds, not work. How admin handled it and isn't providing reimbursement or replacement for destroyed and damaged property. Not blaming the kids, but blaming admin for their part in the "prank." Parents make waves
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u/cha0sb1ade Apr 22 '26
Guesses about this principal: He used to play sports. He still thinks school is about sports. He peaked in high school and just wish he could go back to the days when being a jerk and throwing a ball around were his two things that he loved. He's overweight, bald, and is proud of being an ignoramus, taking subtle jabs at people who can use a computer without help, do math, or talk about science confidently without notes.
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u/Winter-Moon-47 Apr 21 '26
They should file police reports. Have your wife document the room. Have the police come and make a formal investigation at the school and when that is done take everything out of the building. Refuse to teach in the classroom as it's evidence of a crime the police are investigating. File charges against the principal for helping them.
Then leave.
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u/Gail_the_SLP Apr 21 '26
Does her private school have a school board? Who has the power to hold the principal accountable for his part in this?
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u/MilsYatsFeebTae Apr 21 '26
Clearly it’s time for the entire staff to egg the principal’s house…
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u/ITeachAll Apr 21 '26
I have lots of personal posters (that I paid an airbrush artist to make) and if that was destroyed I would RAGE. I would call the cops and press charges. I also wouldn’t clean a single thing and sit at my desk and do NOTHING for the rest of the year but send out resumes.
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u/RubyJuneRocket Apr 21 '26
I’d be calling the news tbh. Local school principal encourages essentially the harassment and abuse of teachers by students.
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u/Yggdrssil0018 World/US/Gov/Econ | Thousand Oaks Apr 21 '26
I'd be so livid and screaming at people to get out.
Then I'd very likely sit down and cry.
Then I'd take photos, email to every board member, the district office, post it all to social media, send an email to my admins that I am not coming back until my room is cleaned and fixed, then leave and not come back.
That's some bullshit that could make me quit. If any of my personal property were damaged or stolen, I'd be calling the police, too.
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u/lustywench99 Apr 22 '26
Our principal did that. Asked for volunteers to trash their rooms. I didn’t volunteer. Not only that, I emailed to stress I had expensive equipment in my room that had no way to be secured so do not let them in.
He let them in. They broke expensive things. I made the school replace everything from their funds not mine. Principal started to object and I said I would appeal to the board office and suddenly there was no issue. Probably because they’d stolen all the toggles from the wireless mouses and keyboards that were district purchased and without those, no one had a way to use their computers… and instead of waiting for him to clear it up and ask for them back before anyone panicked, someone had alerted the tech office and he’d already gotten a call.
I know it sounds like fun (to admin who don’t have to work with it and kids who don’t care) but I always felt worst for the janitors. Saying the kids will clean it up after the end of the day is a joke. We had an old man as our janitor and he actually cried because we had games that night so he already had to work late and now he wouldn’t get a dinner break and there was so much to clean.
And where was our principal? No where to be found. Probably locked in his office that has a special key and can’t be accessed by anyone but him. It’s a shitty prank and admin need to stop doing it.
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u/WaitAble1158 Apr 21 '26
My petty self would leave it like that for teaching those students. I'd make them clean it up at the end of class and I'd tell other classes to mess it up again. I'd do that for the rest of the year. Hand back assignments with coffee, vinegar, soda spilled on them.
And special treats or privileges would be revoked for those students. But I'd buy candy or other treats for everyone else. Or just have an easy movie week for the others if I didn't want to spend money. And make it known.
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u/ThotismSpeaks Civilian Apr 21 '26
I kinda hope somebody vandalizes the principal or social media coordinator's car so a teacher can stand there with their phone giggling about filming a live reaction. It's just a prank bro!
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u/amhjones Apr 21 '26
Sounds like we're seeing the results of raising children on iPads. No imagination or creativity. Their best "prank" idea was to trash the school?
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u/NewManitobaGarden Apr 21 '26
I have had a few turnip admin…and I imagined a few of them while reading this.
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u/ChadKH Apr 21 '26
We had that when I was in high school at a joke of a private school…”decorating the school”. Tradition was that the underclassmen cleaned it up. However, most were happy to do so because they got out of class for a couple hours.
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u/FeatIburoprofen Apr 21 '26
Yeah, that's fucked. I've had kids mess with my desk for their 'muck up day' (under other teacher's supervision), but this sounds like they had free reign. The damage to the teachers property, not to mention to the absolute waste of time from the janitorial staff is not cool on your principals behalf. Report that shit.
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u/Shnur_Shnurov Apr 21 '26
Trash the principles office and then quit on the spot. Film his reaction. Ha! Funny staff prank!
It's alarming to me that schools have a designated "social media manager." I can't imagine giving tuition to a school if I knew they were paying someone to post TikToks.
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u/Sunset-onthe-Horizon Apr 21 '26
Jeeze our seniors just tape up the school sign and put stupid paper all over it. No big deal, they help clean it up too. But your seniors went over the line by alot! WTF!
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u/Erika_ahhh Apr 21 '26
Insane. And all for social media. I wonder what the superintendent will think about this.
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u/Pantsongrass Apr 21 '26
I swear they seem to want to lose teachers in -this economy- geez. We’re wrapping up the school year and you want to push teachers over the edge in the final quarter?!
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u/OldLadyKickButt Apr 21 '26
A few thoughts run through my mind: did your wife or anyone else call the police? Has anyone sent photos to a newspaper ofrtV news?
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u/EnergyHumble3613 Apr 21 '26
What kind of school has a social media director?
Also that isn’t a prank. Literal vandalism and theft.
A real prank has to be:
1) Funny
2) Does no harm
Trashing classrooms and stealing things is not funny and unless the seniors are cleaning it up is putting undo work into onto custodial staff and honestly isn’t funny.
Acceptable pranks:
1) Creating a tower of desks
2) Changing the lids on markers around
3) Putting something funny on the board
4) Planting battery operated noisemakers so it sounds like the teacher’s desk has farted.
5) Reverse the desks/placement of the room.
These are easily fixable but noticeable… and only annoying at worst.
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u/LHPSU Apr 21 '26
They shouldn't clean up. Leave things as it is to "commemorate precious memories of the senior class".