Administrators say TPing prank fails to value those who have to clean up the mess

As students arrived in the front parking lot on May 4, it was clear that someone had toilet papered the quad. Toilet paper hung from the trees, adorning even the highest branches with white streamers.

Custodians began cleaning what they could reach but could not take down the paper at the top of trees.

As of now, the administration does not know who did the prank.

The penalty for the perpetrator includes possible suspension and restriction from graduation, according to assistant principal Brian Safine.

“It wasn’t a malicious act to violently destroy property; people don’t think about the unintended consequences of innocuous actions,” principal Paul Robinson said.

In communities with a high density of teenagers, through perhaps not typically in Saratoga, graffiti with toilet paper, also called “TPing,” isn’t too uncommon.

What is important about this case is its consequences and reflection on the school’s community — the effects it has on those who suffer from the TPing.

“It’s not the crime of the century, but what the students fail to understand is the human effect,” said assistant principal Kevin Mount.

The “human effect,” Mount explained, is the work that people have to put in to clean up the mess.

Similarly, Safine said that despite there being no physical damage to the school, cleaning up after this event requires the man hours of the maintenance and janitorial staff.

This illustrates a disconnect between students and custodians.

“It’s a prank, but someone is going to have to clean this up. They don’t want to clean it up. I don’t want to clean it up. But someone is going to, and it’s going to take hours of work,” Mount said.

The TPing is more than just a prank in this sense, Mount explained, because it illustrates a larger point: Students don’t always realize how many people are picking up after them.

“A lot of the students don’t think it about it. Sometimes adults don’t even think about it,” Mount said. “The problem that comes with a community like Saratoga is that people rarely think about those who have to keep the facilities clean.”

But some are aiming to fix that. In fact, following the prank, the popular student-run photojournalism page, Humans of Saratoga High, posted a photo of the school’s custodians cleaning up the mess; the accompanying caption was “Happy staff appreciation week.” The photo garnered over 400 “likes” and many comments from saddened teachers and students.

Through this event, the administrators hope that students will see the consequences of an action that some might have seen as harmless before they did it.

“It’s a prank, they get some laughs, and then we have to clean it up,” Mount said. “It’s not right.”