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Hernando Today

Seniors to learn punishment Friday

Photo provided by BROOKSVILLE POLICE DEPARTMENT

A police photo shows vandalism committed over the weekend at Hernando High School in Brooksville.

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By TONY HOLT

Hernando Today

Published: May 26, 2009

Updated: 05/28/2009 06:22 pm

BROOKSVILLE - A final decision will be made Friday on whether the guilty students at Hernando High School will be allowed to walk across the stage at their graduation.
Hernando County Superintendent Wayne Alexander will consult with Principal Ken Pritz and the school's resource officer one more time before making a final decision, he said.
"There are two separate groups of offenders," Alexander said. "The degree of severity has some variations."
Pritz confirmed on Wednesday that one group of seniors entered the school Monday night and stacked desks and smeared petroleum jelly on the doors, while a second group arrived later in the night and sprayed vulgar graffiti on the outside of the school.
Alexander suggested the punishment for the latter group could be harsher.
The superintendent has fielded calls from some of the parents of the guilty students, complaining they are being robbed of an important moment of their lives — watching their kids walk across the stage in cap and gown.
One of those parents was Dale Stokely, the stepfather of senior Jacob Geisler.
"I think the school has made some mistakes," said Stokely, who agrees his stepson should suffer consequences. "When they keep giving the same punishment, these kids are just going to keep doing it … They're not sending the right message."
Geisler, his stepfather said, is a National Honors Society student and an overall "awesome kid" who gave into peer pressure.
Stokely said he warned him, but he "went and did it anyway."
"They need to make these kids do some community service," he said.
The punishment, however, should not include barring them from Monday's commencement ceremonies.
Punishing him for the act is one thing, but taking away a privilege he rightfully earned after four years of hard work is something else, Stokely said.
"I don't see how the families should be punished," he said.
Geisler was part of the first group. His stepfather said he was among those students who stacked desks on the patio.
School board member Sandra Nicholson recalled a similar vandalism incident that occurred at Central High School a few years ago. The students who damaged school property were not allowed to walk the stage. She received several calls from angry parents.
"I told them to have their parties and celebrate at home, but they were going to have to miss the ceremony," she said.
The school board has not been involved in the decision making this time, said member James Yant.
"I could see the importance of not charging the young people with a crime," Yant said. "I could see handling it internally … (but) we have to deter other students from doing that."
The Brooksville Police Department responded to the school early Tuesday morning, but Alexander requested the matter be handled by the school district.
The superintendent also said not all of the guilty parties had been identified as of Thursday afternoon. Some more students still needed to be questioned.
Nicholson thinks those who committed the prank involving the petroleum jelly and rearranging of furniture should still be able to walk across the stage, but those who spray-painted the school should not be allowed to participate at graduation, she said.
Yant agreed.
"We need to set a standard, and we need to stand behind it," he said.

Reporter Tony Holt can be reached at 352-544-5283 or wholt@hernandotoday.com.

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