Que. students to miss prom after police called on rowdy prank

A student at Laval Senior Academy (LSA) says she and some of her classmates are being unfairly banned from prom.

It’s one of several disciplinary actions imposed by the school after a day of pranks got out of hand to the point that police were called in.

A letter to parents from the school says the June 9 pranks involved “stink bombs, paint, water guns, and graffiti on school premises.”

“Regrettably, these pranks escalated beyond the boundaries of harmless fun,” read the letter.

Ava Wolfson, a student at the school, says the pranks started out innocently.

“It’s like a tradition for the last day of school to always have a harmless water gun fight with paint, basically,” she said. “It’s fun, it’s not meant to hurt anybody.”

“It progressively got worse and worse with smoke bombs, and someone put one off inside school,” Wolfson added. “After that happened, it wasn’t fun anymore.”

Wolfson insists she only sprayed paint at classmates outside, along with most of her graduating class. Her father recounted receiving a call from the school after the incident.

“We get a call from the principal saying Ava, along with 75 other students, are being banned from prom for her involvement in pranks on the last day of school,” said Perrin Wolfson.

“I’m a disciplinarian,” he said. “If we were having to pay restitution for something she did, if she defaced school property, if she had lit a flare in the school … if she was having criminal charges pressed against her … they wouldn’t need to tell me not to send her to prom. She wouldn’t be going to prom.”

Wolfson is still holding out hope that she and her friends will be able to go. An email from the school’s principal, however, says she will be refused entry if she shows up.

Her father says he believes prom is a rite of passage and hopes this doesn’t leave his daughter dressed up with nowhere to go.

“The plan is to still go to a friend’s house before, do her hair, do her makeup, go to a friends house and take pictures, ride in the limo downtown with her friends. Try to get into the prom and hope that cooler heads prevail,” he told CTV.