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A senior prank at Bishop Ward High School in Kansas City, Kansas, led to the postponement of the school's graduation ceremony after multiple people allegedly broke into the building and damaged property.
KCKPD officers were dispatched Friday morning to Bishop Ward on a reported burglary.
The initial investigation found that multiple people, potentially students, got into the building Thursday night and damaged property.
Parents received an email Friday morning stating the school was postponing the graduation ceremony.
Alexcia Gonzales, parent of a Bishop Ward senior, said she got a text Friday morning saying there was no school due to a building issue.
When she called the school, she said they confirmed it was the senior prank.
"Several of the classrooms were destroyed,” Gonzales said, based on what the school told her. “They threw eggs everywhere, textbooks were ripped up, thrown down the hall, down the stairs. They destroyed brand new furniture in the resource center.”
Gonzales said the incident brought back frustration from a prank the year before.
"The water leaked into the gymnasium, warped the entire floor,” Gonzales said. “They had to pay $100,000 to get it fixed, but they proceeded with the ceremony.”
She questioned why the school didn't take stronger action after last year's incident.
"Why didn't you do something back then?" she said. "Don't you think that would have deterred the kids today? Like, 'Hey, let's not do that because look at what happened last year.'"
Gonzales said what happened goes beyond a prank.
"Property damage, vandalism, that's not even a prank. Where do you find the humor in that?" Gonzales said. "There's no need to take it that far. At that point, it's not even a prank.”
The postponement is personal.
Her son, who is headed to the Air Force after graduation, had family traveling from San Antonio for the ceremony.
“He was happy that they were coming, and we had to turn around and tell them, ‘Don't come,'" Gonzales said. “It breaks my heart.”
She said her son worked hard for this moment.
"It's upsetting because he worked so hard," Gonzales said. "He was ready to just be done with school like any normal senior.”
As of the time of the interview on Monday, Gonzales said the family had received no information about a rescheduled date.
"That's it,” Gonzales said. “That's all we've heard. We haven't heard any dates, nothing. I feel bad for my son because he may not even get a ceremony at this point."
Gonzales said she also thinks about a loved one who won't be there to see him walk, his grandmother.
She showed me a picture of her at his eighth grade graduation.
"Even though she's not going to get to see this, do it for grandma," Gonzales said.
She says they still plan to celebrate her son at his graduation party, but it won't be the same as an actual ceremony.
Parent Ashley Andrews was also blindsided by the news.
Andrews, who lost a son to suicide two years ago, said seeing her remaining senior son walk across the stage carries deep meaning.
"Some may think, 'Oh, it's just a graduation ceremony,' but it's more to it than that," Andrews said. "For me, as a parent, it's just that, 'Way to go, mom,' after everything that I've been through."
Andrews said the school notified families through email, text and phone call.
She also heard from her son's track coach that their Friday meet was canceled.
Andrews said she was shocked the school didn't have stronger safeguards in place after last year's incident.
"When they said vandalism this year, I was a little shocked they didn't have things in place after what occurred last year," Andrews said.
The disruption has had a ripple effect on her family.
"We rearranged families coming in from out of town to see him walk, and it's just like, ouch, what do we do now?" Andrews said.
KSHB 41's Rachel Henderson spoke with Andrews on Monday, the day before the ceremony was originally set to take place.
"Tomorrow," Andrews said. "Yeah, it was supposed to be tomorrow."
Andrews said she wouldn’t classify the vandalism as a prank.
"I graduated in 2004, and our senior pranks were nothing like this,” Andrews said. “It didn't include vandalism. It was funny pranks. We know it's tradition, but let's have some decorum about the pranks.”
Police say the identity of those involved and the value of property damage is currently undetermined.
Both parents want those responsible held accountable.
"It's just not fair to the students that were not involved," Gonzales said.
A spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas shared via email that “because the investigation remains active, we are unable to provide additional details at this time, including information related to students or potential disciplinary action.”
Andrews believes accountability is crucial for emerging adults.
"Hold them accountable,” Andrews said. “Because these are seniors now going into [the] real world. Doing things like this should not go unnoticed or unpunished. You have to make an example so it doesn't happen again.”
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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