Two students who admitted to being involved in placing fake male sexual organs on the roofline and the front of Westbrook High School have been suspended and will be barred from walking in graduation, Superintendent of Schools Patricia A. Ciccone said.
Ciccone said that based on the materials that were used and how they were affixed to the school, she does not consider this a prank. She added that others agree.
“I know the principal is not (considering it a prank),” she said. “And what I have seen of materials, I wouldn’t call it a prank either.”
She said there were many fake “male appendages” hanging off the roofline, affixed to the front of the school building and signage and “and a very thick, sticky kind of goop part of the whole statement.”
She said the fake penises hanging off the roofline could only have been placed by accessing the roof.
“We have gas lines, we have electrical lines, solar panels. It’s a gravel, flat roof, so we don’t know the extent of running around up there,” she said. “It’s a dangerous place to be at night. Security cameras were tampered with and left covered, so if we have had anything else that night, so there’s quite a bit more to it.”
Two students, who admitted to being involved, have been suspended, initially for 5-10 days, depending on the outcome of evidence and the investigation, Ciccone said. They have also been barred from walking in graduation. There names were not released.
While there is possibly a third student involved, there is no clear evidence of who that individual is at this time. The police are involved with the investigation.
Ciccone said the incident is indicative of a much larger problem.
“The incredible realm of incivility that is happening now,” she said. “Yes, I think everything is escalating. Are we able to handle it? Do we handle it in our office?”
Ciccone said fourth-grade students from the local elementary school had been scheduled to be at the school at about 7:30 a.m. to practice for an evening musical concert. Custodians worked diligently, starting early in the morning, to clean up the school prior to the younger students’ visit and the start of school.
“We seem to be living in an age when people just say anything they want to say, it’s out of their mouths and then we’re doing the work constantly of restoring relationships because there’s been so much hurt and so much harm,” she said.
Ciccone said school safety is of paramount importance.
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