Offbeat News

A prank that sent some members of the Connellsville Area High School Band on the run — literally — could result in criminal charges against some former district students.Thursday’s summer band practice session ended abruptly when an undisclosed number of band members were sickened after eating some laxative-laced cookies they’d received from former band members, according to Superintendent James Duncan.

“We know who did it,” Duncan said Friday, declining to disclose their names. “It’s in the hands of the school security department now, and the people responsible will be charged when all is said and done.”

Duncan said he is not sure how many of the band’s roughly 120 members became ill, nor is he aware of any students who were sick enough to require medical treatment.

He said the district’s director of security, Mike Parlak, and band director Tim Martin called parents of all band members to inform them of the incident.

Summer band camp sessions and after-school practices are held on school grounds and are supervised by the band director and other adults who are paid, as well as some volunteers, Duncan said. He said the band director and other adults were present when the former students visited Thursday’s practice.

Martin did not return several calls seeking comment, nor did high school Principal Tammy Stern. School board President Francis Mongell could not be reached for comment.

Board member Ed Zadylak said he’d received no calls from parents and was unaware of any formal complaints to the district yesterday about the incident that he viewed as a prank that went too far.

“Kids will be kids, but sometimes they break the law and then the chief of security has to deal with it,” he said.

Source: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Editor’s Response:

It is quite a funny prank. I mean sabotaging nearly 120 students like that. However its also pretty harsh, I know I would be pissed if it happened to me. I could definitely see disciplinary action within the school but seeking criminal charges seems a bit overboard to me.

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