Anchorage Daily News

The number of Service High School students suspended from school and likely to face felony criminal mischief charges continued to rise Friday, a day after a senior prank in which they tried to block access to the school using glue and cement, according to Anchorage police and school district officials.

So far, 16 Service students have been placed on nine-day suspensions while officials determine whether they will be expelled or allowed to walk down the aisle at their graduation ceremony on May 15, Anchorage School District spokeswoman Michelle Egan said.

The students raided the school early Thursday, pumping epoxy into locks on 18 exterior doors. They also hauled in more than a dozen sacks of cement and tried to mix concrete to block driveway entrances.

They failed to stop school, but caused about $1,500 in damage, Egan said.

Police initially said 13 students were charged, but in fact they have not yet been. By Friday, the number of suspects had risen to 15, with police remaining steadfast in their plans to charge the students with criminal trespassing and felony criminal mischief, APD school resource officer Dwyane Jones said.

"That's what we're going to charge them with," Jones said. "I ran the idea by (prosecutors) and it fits the statute."

Under Alaska law, a person commits third-degree criminal mischief, a felony, by intentionally causing at least $500 in damage to another's property.

Because the students have not yet been charged, police refused to name them Friday. Police were still trying to identify other suspects -- the total number was unknown -- and plan to file charges against the bunch early next week, Jones said.

Prosecutors said they could not discuss the details of the case, but they were working with police.

"We're talking to APD about the appropriateness of criminal charges and the level of charges, but the case is still under investigation," assistant district attorney Brittany Dunlop said.

'THEY'RE GOOD KIDS'

Nash Cotten, an 18-year-old senior at Service, said that he knows some of the guys involved in the prank and that they are clean-cut kids who made a bad decision. Charging them with felonies would be an excessive move that could ruin their lives, he said.

"They made a mistake," Cotten said. "I can't stand behind them and say what they did was funny and right -- I think they know what they did was wrong -- but people are looking at them like they're the shame of the town, and they're good kids."

Comeau and other school officials plan to meet Monday and determine on a case-by-case basis whether the students will be expelled or if they will be allowed to participate in their graduation. However, if they are expelled, some could still be eligible to receive diplomas depending on the number of credits they have amassed.

"We need to teach young people that there are consequences to their actions," Comeau said. "Parents need to know where their kids are in the middle of the night. They really need to emphasize that pranks are not OK and that there will be consequences."

NO-PRANK APPROACH

The district had big problems with senior pranks in the 1990s, Comeau said. Probably the worst was when a group of students climbed onto the roof of a downtown business planning to steal a large display balloon. The owner heard them, came outside and shot at them, killing one and injuring another, she said.

In the time since, the district had clamped down on all pranks large and small, and the effort has mostly been successful, she said. There are some minor pranks that are appropriately punished, but nothing major in recent years.

"The whole point of having the no-prank approach is that we don't want it to be a tradition," Egan said. "Then there's one-upping and there's property damage, and then someone gets hurt."

Find James Halpin online at adn.com/contact/jhalpin or call him at 257-4589.