WILKES COUNTY, Ga. — An annual tradition nearly cost dozens of Georgia students the chance to walk at graduation.
Seniors in Wilkes County carried out a senior prank earlier this week. It consisted of flipping desks, wrapping them in Saran Wrap and switching some classrooms.
But they said they got approval and the key from the assistant principal.
“I said, ‘Can we get the key?’ She said, ‘No,’ she will not give us the key, but she said she will not ask where the key came from,” said student Brandon Chapman.
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On Wednesday, the students protested outside the Wilkes County Board of Education, WJBF-TV reported.
"We supposedly still did $150 in damages," student Nydis Person told WJBF-TV. "So, they said every student had to pay a $2 fee, which we did."
But Chapman told WJBF-TV their money was not enough and he does not understand why he and more than 30 of his classmates were punished.
"In 2008, the old school they brought pigs, chickens with goats, put dead fish in the ceiling. They demolished the school and kids still had to go there. In the new school, in 2016 they did the exact same prank we did to a T with like two different variations and all of them got to walk," he said.
After the protest, a councilmember agreed that the school's punishment was too harsh.
Students will now be allowed to walk at graduation Friday but they have to do community service.
Information from WJBF-TV was used in this report