CLAYTON, Ind. — A seemingly harmless high school prank sparked the suspensions of six students and the admonishing of a School Board member, then a protest that led to the suspensions of roughly 50 more students and then, Wednesday evening, a decision to either erase or reduce the suspensions.

Clearly, the “sticky note” prank at Cascade High School created a sticky situation for district officials.

The prank involved six students who entered the school after hours on Monday and “decorated” rooms — in often colorful and creative ways — with 11,000 press-and-stick notes.

The incident and the fallout have created their share of angst here in this rural patch of western Hendricks County, but they also raise a provocative question that’s likely to be increasingly confronted in other school districts:

Can the nostalgic, time-honored tradition of senior pranks survive in today’s age of zero-tolerance policies and multimillion-dollar lawsuits?

Judging from the events of the past few days, the answer is maybe, maybe not.

Mill Creek Community Schools Superintendent Patrick Spray initially took a by-the-book stance: The students violated the school’s code of conduct by trespassing on school property outside regular school hours and should be suspended for two days.

But the back story, parents say, wasn’t so simple.

First of all, the prank took place with the knowledge — and approval — of a School Board member who is also the mother of one of the students involved. According to students, she even gave them the key to enter the building. Also, a custodian working that night apparently watched over the kids.

And, according to parents, the students — including the valedictorian, salutatorian and class president — went out of their way to ensure their prank would not harm anyone or damage any property.

“It wasn’t like they were a bunch of hooligans,” said Charlotte Canaday, whose stepson, Anthony, 19, was among the six pranksters.

By Wednesday evening, after having met with parents and students, district officials had erased the six suspensions and wiped the incident from the students’ academic records. Bob Canaday, Anthony’s father, who attended the meeting, said the suspensions of the roughly 50 students who walked out of class in protest Wednesday will be reduced to one day and served as after-school detention.

Earlier in the day, Spray told The Indianapolis Star that the actions of board member Margaret Weatherman and custodian Kim Rouse were “completely inappropriate.”

He had recommended Rouse’s firing, but Bob Canady told The Star on Wednesday evening that it didn’t appear the School Board would go along. Neither Weatherman nor anyone else on the board responded to phone calls or messages from The Star. Spray also could not be reached for comment late Wednesday evening.

Others had plenty to say.

During the protest, students, parents and alumni picketed in front of the school and held protest signs and posted sticky notes on their shirts, faces and cars to support their fellow students and Rouse.

“This is just ridiculous,” said parent Pam Henderson, who pulled her daughter from school to join the protest. “Nothing was vandalized; nobody got hurt. I don’t want my kids in this school.”

Some here in the community remembered worse pranks in years past, many of which were a lot more damaging than a few thousand sticky notes. Cascade alumna Rebecca Bius said that during her time, students cut down trees, camped out on the school’s front lawn, drove tractors and tied horses around the facility. Those, she said, were also done outside school hours.

“Everybody was trespassing when they did their pranks,” said Bius, a 1975 graduate.

Saxton Archer, 18, who along with Anthony Canaday was among the six pranksters, said they purposely chose a harmless way to do the senior prank. He added that students offered to clean up afterward.

“Students are outraged,” Archer said, “that we got suspended over sticky notes.”

Charlotte Canaday said the intent of the prank was the most important thing school officials should have considered.

“Is your intent to be malicious and mean, or is your intent to be safe and fun?” she asked. “That’s what theirs was, to have fun and do something creative.”

But those days — and attitudes — should be long over in the wake of school shootings, gang bullying and multimillion-dollar lawsuits, said Hank Nuwer, an associate professor of journalism at Franklin College who has authored several books about bullying and hazing.

Nuwer said districts have no choice but to crack down hard.

If they don’t, he said, at some point a prank could go too far, someone could get hurt, the school could get sued and the administrators could get fired.

“If you do something risky long enough, something is going to go wrong eventually,” he said. “That’s the problem with pranks.”

Not everyone in academia agrees.

Robert Maranto, 21st Century chair in leadership at the Department of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas, said the district’s initial reaction seemed “so silly” for something so harmless.

Not all pranks, he said, will lead to violence. He knows firsthand.

Maranto laughs when he talks about a prank he and his college buddies pulled in the 1970s. They got a turtle enrolled at their school.

Now, Maranto studies public administration and education, with a focus on charter schools. He’s also the co-author of the book “The Politically Correct University: Problems, Scope, and Reforms.”

He said the students should have been told to clean up their mess and leave it at that.

He said far too many school administrators are so worried about vague threats of violence or lawsuits that they turn into uncompromising bureaucrats who ignore teachable moments or balk at changing school policies for the better.

“You’re not going to get into trouble,” he said. “But you’re not going to be serving kids.”

Pranks from the past

Senior-year high school hijinks have been known to get students into trouble. Here’s a look at some pranks from years past:

June 1997: Three Whiteland High School seniors broadcast an X-rated video to classroom televisions. They are banned from graduation ceremonies but later receive their diplomas.

May 2002: Two Warren Central High School students toilet-paper trees and some areas inside the school, turn over trash bins and push unplugged soda machines in the hallways. They are arrested on charges of criminal mischief and trespassing.

May 2003: A Lawrence Central High School senior, in a column for the student newspaper, uses the first letter of each paragraph to spell out an obscene message. He was suspended for the final eight days of class.

May 2004: Twelve Eminence High School students dump manure at the school doors and parking lot. School officials make them clean it up.

May 2006: Two Franklin High School seniors glue classroom doors shut; maintenance crews spend 90 minutes prying them open. Both are charged with misdemeanor criminal mischief.

May 2011: A Rushville High School senior places a blow-up sex doll in a restroom on the last day of school. He initially is charged with a felony count of criminal mischief and disorderly conduct, but prosecutors later agree to drop the charges in exchange for community service.

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