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Senior pranks seem harmless, but fraught with risk

It’s hard to fault a group of high school kids out to have a little fun at the close of the school year by throwing water balloons at other students and staff in their school’s lunchroom.

It’s also hard to fault administrators wanting the troublemakers charged with something.

By now you have likely heard the facts of the incident, or as much as we have been told about it and thus reported.

“Three Minot High School-Magic City Campus students were cited Tuesday after they had a water balloon fight in the school during lunch, according to police.

“Xavier Mason Falcon, who just turned 18 last Tuesday, and two 17-year-old boys were cited for misdemeanor disorderly conduct.”

Minot police explained that the teens were throwing the water balloons in the lunch room and “caused disruption in the school environment” because of the “yelling and screaming connected to the water balloons being thrown.”

School officials had advanced warning of what the students were up to and attempted but failed to stop it from happening.

It’s hard not to make light of three kids getting arrested for throwing water balloons at school. It actually sounds like good clean fun.

Unfortunately it is not the type of fun some students and a lot of parents are interested in seeing played out in their schools these day.

Think of all the what-ifs, starting with what if a student or a group of students didn’t recognize the situation as a prank and hurt themselves running for cover?

Or, as one school official intimated, what if somebody slipped in the water and was hurt?

Also, were the boys arrested because they threw water balloons or because of the commotion they caused after they were caught? Again, a potential source of fear to others not in on the prank.

Hopefully the boys will not face a judge over this, because their intent almost certainly was to have a little fun, albeit at somebody else’s expense. They just didn’t think it through and didn’t know when to stop. Maybe we chalk this one up to youthful exuberance. But that will be up to the school district and we have to respect their decision.

Every high school senior should take note, though. There is a fine line these days between a prank and a criminal act in a public place, and there is little tolerance for either on school property.

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