38 Tacoma students suspended for vandalism prank

Some Tacoma high school students have learned a valuable lesson at the end of the school year: if you’re going to do something stupid, don’t tweet about it.

Thirty-eight Stadium High School students have been suspended for the last two days of school after vandalizing some cars near campus earlier this month, then bragging about it on Twitter.

District spokeswoman Elle Warmuth says it was part of an organized junior class prank. The students damaged about 10 cars belonging to sophomores.

“They used shaving cream, shoe polish and condiments. There was a hood that was dented and there was also some paint chipped,” she says.

Warmuth says school officials began investigating the vandalism when it was discovered during school hours. After interviewing several students, the names of some of those involved came up and when officials turned to Twitter, they found some of them recounting their exploits online.

“You know, it will go on their record, but it won’t affect anything with graduation. These typically are good students and most of them are college-bound,” Warmuth says.

Not everyone agrees with the punishment.

“This is just an overreaction,” says KIRO Radio’s Don O’Neill. “When I heard kids and vandalism, I thought they broke windows, they broke into cars they stole stuff, they ripped out stereos.”

Don is offering to pay for the damage, and urging administrators to lighten up.

“Just let kids be kids sometimes. So you put some relish on a kid’s car,” he says.