June 21--Two California high school students who glued more than 100 classroom doors shut as part of a senior prank will be billed $13,500. The students, who recently graduated but were prohibited from attending last week's ceremony, are expected to split the cost.
A letter informing the students of their responsibility was sent this week.
The bill represents the estimated cost of buying 104 door locks and seven padlocks plus the labor involved in installing them.
Michael Clear, assistant superintendent for Simi Valley Unified School District, said maintenance staff tried to clean the glue out of the locks to no avail.
"Our locksmith soaked them in a solvent," Clear said. "We put them under fire to try to melt some of the glue out and still could not get all the glue out."
Clear said considering that cleaning the locks would be labor intensive and not very effective, it makes more sense to replace the locks.
"We try to be mindful of the cost and labor," Clear said. "We think it's less expensive to replace the locks."
On June 5, campus officials discovered all the Royal High classroom doors had been glued shut. They caught the two graduating seniors who had put glue in the locks the night before and suspended them for the rest of the school year. Since then, temporary locks have been installed to secure the classrooms.
The school district has ordered the new locks, which will take four to six weeks to arrive. It will take the district's locksmith two to three weeks to install them. Clear said if the locks aren't installed by the time school starts Aug. 19, the district will hire outside help.
Copyright 2013 - Ventura County Star, Calif.
