School Prank Costs Parents 50K

[bc-chris]

A teenaged boy who set off the fire sprinklers at his Nanaimo, B.C., high school while playing a prank has broken new legal ground and cost his parents nearly $50,000 in court-ordered damages.
The case involves a then-14-year-old boy who caused $48,630 in damage when he attached a padlock to just one sprinkler head inside Wellington secondary but set off other sprinklers.
B.C. Supreme Court Justice Shelley Fitzpatrick says its the first time ever that a court has wrestled with interpreting the section of the School Act that concerns intentionally destroying school property.
The school district argued during the civil trial that the boy, who The Canadian Press has chosen not to name because of his age, was negligent and his intentional act caused the damage.
His parents argued the teen didn't intend to cause the damage and the school should have taken steps to prevent such an incident.
Fitzpatrick says that had the boy considered his actions, he would have realized that he might have broken the sprinkler, and as a result he is negligent and his parents must pay for the damage, court costs and interests.
"I am sure that this is a very unfortunate result for the ... family and perhaps it will be for other families in the future.
She says the incident was "clearly the result of a young boy misbehaving," and the boy might have thought that the only grief would come to the janitor and a friend who owned the padlock.

http://www.castanet.net/news/BC/1302...ts-parents-50K


ha! this article made me chuckle. i'm glad the court sided with the school district.

i can't believe that the parents actually argued that "the school should have taken steps to prevent such an incident"

just admit it - your kid made a stupid choice and there are now consequences for that choice

[Delthefunky]

agreed!

[Itse]

And if this ends up bankrupting the whole family, justice is served?

I mean it's possible for that to be enough for some people's finances.

The kid was from Wellington? Meh... He wasn't going to need that college fund anyways. Stupid hoodlums go to Wellington.

Woodlands RULES!

I miss my hometown

[K1LLswitch]

Originally Posted by Itse

And if this ends up bankrupting the whole family, justice is served?

I mean it's possible for that to be enough for some people's finances.

I agree - to me it doesn't seem worth the stress on the family for a lawsuit, appeals and this eventual fine, when I'm sure it is something insurance would have handled.

Make him pay for the cost of the Fire dept showing up, but $50k is excessive.

[Travis Munroe]

In a way justice is served - while someone takes the short end of the deal I can guarantee this story has been brought up at countless dinner tables where parents explain the repercussions of being an idiot.
So in that sense I would say justice is served for the school board. While most pranks seem harmless, they typically do involve some sort of school board man hours to fix. Hopefully this has just allowed those man hours to go towards the kids being taught.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by bc-chris

i can't believe that the parents actually argued that "the school should have taken steps to prevent such an incident"

Yeah, it's hard to get behind the argument that the school should have disabled the proper function of its fire suppression system because their kid is an idiot.

[Itse]

Originally Posted by Realtor 1

In a way justice is served - while someone takes the short end of the deal I can guarantee this story has been brought up at countless dinner tables where parents explain the repercussions of being an idiot.
So in that sense I would say justice is served for the school board. While most pranks seem harmless, they typically do involve some sort of school board man hours to fix. Hopefully this has just allowed those man hours to go towards the kids being taught.

It's just going to boost the bottom line of the insurance company.

Also; if kids could be stopped doing stupid stuff with dinner table stories, the world would be a very different place.

[Travis Munroe]

I did a lot of stupid stuff growing up as everyone has.
I also avoided a lot of stupid stuff because of such "dinner table stories"

[accord1999]

Originally Posted by Itse

It's just going to boost the bottom line of the insurance company.

Which also boosts the bottom line of everyone paying premiums to the insurance company (and shareholders).

[Jude]

It's not as though the kid was maliciously trying to set the sprinklers off so why is everyone pulling out the torches and pitchforks? Is there some kind of growing padlock-tomfoolery epidemic that needs to be nipped in the bud that I don't know about?

[WhiteTiger]

Originally Posted by Jude

It's not as though the kid was maliciously trying to set the sprinklers off so why is everyone pulling out the torches and pitchforks? Is there some kind of growing padlock-tomfoolery epidemic that needs to be nipped in the bud that I don't know about?

I think it's more of a "be responsible for the consequences of your actions" sort of crowd. It was a 'funny joke' to him, but it caused nearly $50k worth of damage. It wasn't just swept away with a laugh, and now he's learned that there are consequences to stupid actions.

[normtwofinger]

Why did more than one sprinkler go off? I may be wrong but I believe each head is independent unlike movies and TV shows. Anyone in the business can explain this?

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by normtwofinger

Why did more than one sprinkler go off? I may be wrong but I believe each head is independent unlike movies and TV shows. Anyone in the business can explain this?

Not in the business but in our building, and it is of newer and typical construction, the sprinklers are chained together in clusters. A single sprinkler is rarely sufficient to put down a fire, so having only one in a room or area trigger would not be effective in many cases. Having several trigger together gives greater fire suppression while also watering down the area to inhibit the fire's ability to spread.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Even as a kid I remember I and everyone else I knew were smart enough not to screw with the sprinkler heads. We had a few idiots pull the alarm at school over the years and even one special case start a fire in a garbage can but everyone knew setting the sprinklers off would be way beyond a "prank" and didn't touch them. This kid was an extra special case of stupid and earns no sympathy from me

[Muffins]

What happened to the good old days of greasing up a pig and letting it loose in the school as a prank?

Kids these days.....

[stampsx2]

This serves as a good example to the other kids. Maybe some of them will think before doing dumb things next time. The parents should pay for the property damage weather intentional or not. If that kid came to your house and damaged property you'd expect the same.

[FlamesAddiction]

I'm torn on this.

As a minor, wouldn't the supervising adults in the school be responsible for his actions? I realize that teachers are not paid to babysit per se, but surely they have some responsibilities and privileges that put them legally in charge of the safety and actions of the children they are supervising. The parents obviously can't be expected to be there the whole time.

But on the other hand, if it was going to cost the school (and indirectly taxpayers), then I would prefer the family takes responsibility. Do we know for sure that insurance would have paid out?

[btimbit]

Idiot kid, idiot move, but Boys will be boys. 14 seems a bit old for a dumb move like this one but come on. If your kid has a penis, you pretty much have to accept he's going to destroy some stuff

Absolutely should be a punishment but 50k seems like way too much. Could be the families entire salary for the year for all we know

[Ducay]

Can someone explain the prank to me? How does putting a padlock on a sprinkler do anything?

Are these not heat-triggered heads like most?