Milford High School Seniors Scolded Over 2021 Prank

MILFORD, NH — Seniors at Milford High School are being told to set up chairs on June 10 for graduation if they were involved in this year's senior prank which covered the school in tape, chalk graffiti, toilet paper, and cups.

School officials have a list of participants who were involved and warn there could be suspensions or police involvement if there are more incidents at the school, according to notes shared with Patch. Students also had a plan to clean up the mess.

Chali Davis, the principal of Milford High School, however, said a lot of rumors and misinformation about consequences for students involved in the prank and were unfounded.

The prank, she said, was not destructive but it did block the doors of the school. When the school's custodian came in, which he does every day, before everyone else, he saw the mess, "put his head down and started cleaning it, which he has done in the past," she said.

Davis added, "If the students had communicated with us and coordinated with the administrative team, it might have been a different situation."

The outgoing principal called the students "wonderful," but often, with pranks, the cleanup falls on the custodians — who end up spending a lot of time cleaning up. Is that fair to them?

"They are absolutely exhausted," Davis said of custodians.

By the time she got to school at 7 a.m., she said, the cleanup was already started. Plus, there was the extra work of staff who worked to clean up stuff inside of the school who spent a good part of the day cleaning up after the prank inside the school.

"We think our kids are great," Davis said. "They are wonderful kids. We are happy that there wasn't any damage (to the school). In no way were we trying to take away the fun. But it was not appropriate to block the entrances of the school. They need to be clear."

While the school does not have a prank policy, it does have a vandalism policy, she said. Davis said other school districts have prank policies although she was not suggesting Milford establish one. It just would have been a bit better if administrators knew ahead of time what was going to happen so that the doors of the school were not affected, she said.

"Open communication always helps," Davis said. "It goes a long way."

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