NEW ORLEANS – Civil Court judge Ethel Julien has ruled against a Sophie B. Wright student involved in a senior prank that school officials say damaged the school.
Eighteen-year-old Lyric Fernandez and her lawyers had appealed the school’s punishment, which stipulated in part that Fernandez and several other seniors who participated in the prank could graduate, but were forbidden from walked across the stage at the school’s May 13 graduation ceremony.
On May 7, the case was moved to Federal court, and the final judgement was passed down this morning.
The April 5 prank involved graduating seniors spraying each other with water guns while running around outside the school’s Uptown campus.
A statement from school officials said the students used water balloons, water guns, eggs, vinegar, and mustard to vandalize the inside and outside of the school.
The students who participated in the senior prank were initially banned from walking the stage at graduation, banned from attending senior prom, and were suspended for five days.
Parents and students immediately protested the punishment, leading to the court cases.