Pranks are something schools sometimes have to put up with, as students do them on either their teachers or classmates. But these pranks cause issues for the school and staff.

“I think it’s unfortunate that students do pranks or try to do pranks. We don’t find them funny because often times they are damaging, can cost money and cost time for other people, that is not necessary,” Smith said.

Pranks affect the school in a lot of ways, leading to use of resources and a waste of staff’s time. It can also cause a big school disturbance the school wishes to avoid, Smith said. In March, when a student placed a dead raccoon in the upstairs boys bathroom, the bathroom had to be closed, and students talked about the event during their classes.

“Extra resources had to be used for cleaning, disinfecting and that’s more time on people’s plate,” Smith said.

After the dead raccoon was found, staff locked up the bathroom to figure out how to deal with it. Staff eventually figured out a way to dispose of the raccoon, keeping the bathroom locked afterwards to avoid more issues. These are uses of resources the school wishes to avoid.