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Water Balloon Fight Gets East Rockaway High School Students Banned From Graduation, Prom

Infuriated Kids, Parents Say Administration's Punishment Hardly Fits The Crime

June 21, 2011 8:43 PM
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East Rockaway High School - East Rockaway, NY - Jun 21, 2011 (credit: Mike Xirinachs / WCBS 880)

East Rockaway High School – East Rockaway, NY – Jun 21, 2011 (credit: Mike Xirinachs / WCBS 880)

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Reporting Mike Xirinachs

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EAST ROCKAWAY, NY (CBSNewYork) – Some Long Island high school students are paying a hefty price for their end-of-year hijinks.

The school principal, assistant principal and a crossing guard were among those hit by water balloons during the annual water balloon battle outside East Rockaway High School.

Now, a group of seniors who participated have been banned from this week’s graduation ceremony and the prom.  Some parents think the punishment is extreme.

“Gone through four years of high school and then they made one mistake. I mean I think it’s a little bit too far. I mean, these kids, they were having fun,” one father said.

WCBS 880 Long Island Bureau Chief Mike Xirinachs In Nassau County

“Kids are kids. You know, to ban them from graduation, I think is ridiculous,” another father said.

Both believe community service would be a more appropriate punishment.

Melissa Erul was one of a group of seniors who won’t attend graduation.

“I’m just so upset. None of my family’s gonna be able to see me,” Erul told CBS 2′s Scott Rapoport.

“I didn’t even throw a water balloon and I’m being penalized,” Mike Castellano said.

1010 WINS’ Mona Rivera reports: Water Balloon Fight Gets Out Of Hand

Anthony Gallegro said he is one of 20 seniors paying for the actions of two students — one who doesn’t attend the school — because they threw balloons at the administration officials.

“Because of two bad seeds in the bunch we’re all going down for it,” Gallegro told 1010 WINS’ Mona Rivera.

“They’re acting like it was so much worse than it was,” Billy Day added.

To make matters worse, the banned balloon brawlers said they’ve also been barred from their prom. The students’ parents are livid.

“To take them out of graduation I think is horrible,” Lori De Stefani said.

The school superintendent said the students were warned ahead of time of the penalties and chose to have the water balloon fight anyway. Dr. Rosanne C. Melucci said in a statement: “The actions of these students created a disorderly and unsafe situation by obstructing vehicular and pedestrian traffic.”

But for the banned students that rings hollow.

“I can’t go to the prom or graduate. I think that’s a little extreme,” Ryan Starkman said.

Many of the kids Rapoport spoke with said the balloon fight is an annual thing that’s gone on for years — and that they’ve never been penalized for it.

Do you think these students went too far or is the administration totally overreacting? Please offer your thoughts in the comments section below.

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  • erhs student

    Finally people know how dumb and irrational the east rockaway high school administration is.

  • jimmyyoung

    YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAHHH!!!!

  • ERHS student

    I’d like to let everyone know that this is definitely not the first mistake this class has made. The week before school was over they had a Senior Dinner Party (“Banquet”) and the students destroyed it. They took their senior cake and threw it all over the room. The floor was covered in cake from their cake fight. Also, another girl was caught by the assistant principal giving all the guys blow-jobs outside of the place. And over half their grade was completely wasted and throwing up in the bathroom. After the disaster they had in front of all the teachers that attented, they had no business with this water balloon prank. They are embarrassing the school and the town.

    • What?

      ^Half of that is not true. Just shows how useless and misleading comments can be..

      • mike

        ^actually its all true. just shows how useless and misleading comments can be..

      • Josh Gawker

        ONE girl threw up. ONE girl gave oral sex. and THREE people threw cake. Go win Rock Rivalry or work on your horrible spelling/grammar and stop refreshing this page about a prank that 2011 did, LOSER!

      • ERHS Student 2011

        Agreed. Clearly nobody know’s what truly goes on with our grade,and if you think its so offensive then why is the one girl who WAS throwing up from being drunk at banquet and the ONE girl who was giving blow-jobs allowed to walk at graduation but people who harmlessly were throwing water balloon’s can not. Obviously the administration was EMBARRASSED after Detomasso was trying to act like a tough guy and dropped his OWN phone in water, he should’ve just let it go and stop trying to save the day. Case Closed all the parents and monitors who disagree are stupid and unreasonable you have all done something in your day, get over yourselves.

  • uncalled for

    cim you mean to tell me you wernt a high school student once who was into working on his car tuning it and such and spinning his tires for his friends. or even doing something as harmless as having a water fight? do me a favor get a life and stop making our grade out to be such savages were teenagers were supposed to be mildly wreckless so if a measly water ballon fight causing a decent amount of ublic attention is the only thing that enables you to have the guts to finally speak up so u can get attention, then at least do it like a mature adult especially if your going to talk down at us like one

    • love it

      hahahaha this comment is excellent.

  • Pat

    These are probably the same kids who played Little League and had no respect for anyone when they were nine or ten and the parents thought that was just fine. They deserve to not graduate. It’s about time the schools did their job disciplining the kids since the parents won’t. These kids should be held accountable for their actions. They knew what the consequences would be.

    • Danielle Ponnwitz

      Really? It;s not like they destroyed property or hurt someone. EVERY high school does this. I graduated in ’04 and our prank was unleashing little bouncy balls in the hallways, and it was good clean fun! Let them attend!!!!!!

      • sam

        um you did NOT graduate ERHS in 2004. I know that class very well..no Danielles in it.

      • Pat

        You must be an East Rockaway parent with that response. They were warned what the consequences would be, so now they have to deal with it. Maybe if more parents taught their children that there will be consequences to their actions, our society would be a better one.

      • Danielle

        Go Back to Jersey

      • Pat

        Decision was affirmed by the Board of Education. They got what they deserved. Too bad.

  • o

    First of all these kids are far from innocent. I believe one father stated that throughout these kids four years of school they have made only one mistake. Well that is far from the truth. A few of the kids that were banned have been suspended and kicked out of class more times than one can even count. Some have had numerous run ins with the law even to the extent of being arrested. One of the banned students was kicked out of school for 5 months for dealing drugs. Also aside from the behavior of these kids, this water balloon is by no stretch “Annual”. The teachers at East Rockaway High School are probably on their last nerve, with these students and their entire grade, they have terrorized this town long enough with their destructive nature and drug related antics. Its a shame really maybe if the teachers and parents had stepped in long ago the kids wouldn’t have turned out like they did.

    • Danielle Ponnwitz

      and that has nothing to do with why they’re not walking in graduation.

      • Jack

        i think his point was that these students have been getting away with murder for years.
        Since you graduated in 04 you have no clue how bad things have gotten at the school and if you were there and saw the scene you wouldnt be saying that.
        If you have not been to the school recently or currently live in the town you have absolutely no clue, and if you really do believe these kids are innocent and deserve to walk then you are just as delusional as the parents of the students.

  • senior student at erhs

    I’m student at erhs, a senior at that. I witnessed the entire balloon fight, and for the most part, it was absolutely harmless, the kids were 6 or 7 houses away from the main road, and yes, kids that weren’t a part of the balloon fight were hit with balloons, but it was all for fun, I was hit as well and I can assure alll of you that my friends did not fill those balloons with anything but water. Most of the students did not attempt to hit the assistant principal although his taunting was way out of line.. when a grown man is going “You think you’re all so tough, eh?” to a bunch of 17 and 18 year old boys, that makes for a very bad situation, and of the 2 kids who hit the principal and assistant principal, one never even was a student at erhs, and the other one isn’t even graduating with us. They went too far with this punishment, although I am not punished for this ridiculousness, it hurts me that I can’t graduate with some of my best friends over a water balloon fight when there are people who were caught drinking at the senior banquet and can still walk at graduation.

    • Stop Whining

      So the old what we did is not as bad as what they did defense has been used. Anyone who takes part in an organized event and throws water ballons at figures of authority should be banned from any school events. The Assistant Principal yelled at us, Waaah, Waaah. We got punished for our actions, Waaah Waaah. One kid wasn’t even from our school, but everyone else was, Waaah Waaah. Grow up ERHS Senior, College starts soon and Mommy and Daddy won’t be there to wipe your runny nose and wipe away your tears. Crybaby.

      • senior student at erhs

        Wow you’re really mature “stop whining”. Your sarcastic and unnecessary input was really insightful, let me tell you. Stop putting your two cents into something you probably had no part of and have nothing to do with. This is my grade’s graduation, something that I take seriously. This is my grade whom I love and have spent years and years getting to know. You know nothing of what’s going on, and if you did you’d have a less irrational and ridiculous comeback for my statements. I should grow up? Please read your response and then come back to chat, thanks.

    • Debbie

      When I graduated from high school, 20 students would have been about a quarter of our class. We were all friends and a very close community. If our principal had tried to hand out such a ridiculous punishment (not that he would have, he probably would have joined in) for something as harmless as a water balloon fight, we probably would not have had a graduation because we would not have left our friends behind.

  • DeMo

    jojo and all of these people who have the time to comment on a silly little thing that got blown way out of proportion should take the time to get their facts straight before they start stating their opinions on things that they arent invovled in. Maybe its you who has to learn? ever think about that? no didnt think so. shut up and mind your own business

  • erhs is dumb

    IN 2009 THEY PAINTED A HUGE MARIJUANA LEAF ON THE BELL TOWER! GUESS WHAT HAPPENED? NOTHING. IN 2011 SOME KIDS THREW SOME HARMLESS BALLOONS FILLED WITH WATER. GUESS WHAT HAPPENED? 20 KIDS CAN’T WALK AT THEIR GRADUATION.

    I SEE A PROBLEM HERE, EAST ROCKAWAY HIGH SCHOOL NEEDS TO GET THEIR PRIORITIES STRAIGHT.

    i like typing in caps its fun =]

    • Anonymous

      A. the kids in 2009 didnt get caught hence why they took money out of each grade to pay for the damages
      B Each of the kids who got caught in 2011 with the water balloons all have terrible records, the water balloons were the last straw
      C I agree East Rockaway does need to get their priorities straight, they should have laid down the law years ago and mb things wouldnt have turned out as bad as they did

  • sk

    the punishment does sound extreme, however, the kids were warned already so they have to learn take resposibility for their actions! its better they learn that now then after they garduate high school! id on’t eveen think this article should be mentioned you just giving the studenst a reason to get attention!

  • graduating class of 2009

    uhhhh… lololol .. well you used NEW when you should have used KNEW….so i think you need to maybe, go BACK to school…..umm..and we should see a shrink? i dont understand where you are coming from. its a water balloon fight. a few years back, kids PAINTED THE TOWER ON THE TOP OF THE SCHOOL AND PUT A MARIJUANA LEAF. a water balloon fight isn’t vicious or dangerous at all . the school can do something else rather than taking them away from walking on graduation day. dr. melucci was simply embarrassed that she got hit with a water balloon . GROW UP LADY!

    • jojo

      @GCof 2009, your comment makes you sound like a jacka$$. Throwing urine filled balloons at adults is not vicious or dangerous? Would you really want to be exposed to someone elses bodily fluids. As far as I am concerned these children should be banned from greaduation. They were warned did it anyway and now its time to pay the piper. I just hope the school district does not back down to the fools that think its just a silly prank.

      • MR

        just to inform you, those water balloons weren’t filled with urine. so before you start making comments you should get your facts straight.

      • Anonymous

        Sadly enough Detomaso and the other higher ups have been backing down on punishments and have been way to lenient for way to long. if they had stepped in years ago and put a stop to the children and their bad behavior then things like this would never happen. i went erhs and deto always seemed to let the bad kids slide and the good kids suffer

    • just for fun? puhleese!

      Water Balloons fights generally aren’t viscious or dangerous. Unfortunately, this one was. Putting soap in the balloons gets a “lol”? You might want to consider how that speaks to your intent. Dr. Melucci wasn’t hit – other people were. What about the kids that were running away into traffic? What about the cursing and taunting that was delivered with the balloon? What about the majority of kids with no water balloons? Aren’t fun water balloon fight usually between willing players? Yeah, water balloons are great – unless you fill them with something besides water and launch them across the busiest road in town while a couple of hundred kids (some as young as 12) are being dismissed.

      • WaterballoonHorror

        I wish i hit that little weasel of a woman

    • alyssa

      That was 2008 and that was my class. Nothing was done about it because they couldn’t find out who did it. Seriously though, this punishment for the 2011 class is extremely harsh. There shouldn’t even be consequences anyway because it’s a harmless water balloon fight. ERHS should make it a tradition rather than try to stop it every year. Let the kids have some fun to celebrate their graduation! How dare they take their graduation ceremony away from them. Let their parents punish them if they feel it’s necessary.

      • 7

        These kids are so bad they shouldve had way more than graduation taken away from them a long time agpo

      • 7

        These kids are so bad they shouldve had way more than graduation taken away from them a long time ago

  • Henry S.

    It’s real simple. They were warned NOT to have the water balloon fight, and they did it any way. Now you must pay the price. Excuses, excuses, excuses – yea, yea, yea, we know….kids from another school did it, I don’t know who they were, I’ve never seen them before. This is the problem with America, nobody is responsible for their actions. A simple comment of “how dare you accuse me of such a thing”, and it vanishes with the wind. I bet attorneys have been called already on the students behalf. The administrators that we struck with urine filled water balloons will ironically lose this one in the end. God Bless America.

  • RUGA

    The water balloons were filled up at my house. They were NOT filled with NAIR OR URINE. SOME were filled with soap, lol. It was pretty awesome..

  • Good choice kids

    They were warned. So if anybody has a problem with the schools reaction they need to see a shrink. The kids new what would happen and so they felt it was worth it. Graduations are boring. They would have had a lot more fun with the ballon’s. Good choice kids.

    • Bklyn mom

      You definitely didn’t graduate from High School since you can’t even spell and don’t know the difference between plurals and possessives. If my children were involved in something like this, I would have punished them myself.

      • Maybe not such a Good Choice kids

        Actually I can spell and do know basic grammar usage. I think McGill University, of which I am a graduate, may agree. Just happens though, I am not perfect and prone to mistakes like most anyone else of which, you are an exception – of course. But I deserved your reply. It was a idiot comment. I stand corrected. Thank you.

  • Support our kids

    Assult for a water balloon? You people need to lighten up. Oh I got hit with a water balloon, OMG!!! its a very serious crime!!!! Arent kids allowed to have some fun anymore?

    • jojo

      @SOK, I hope you get hit with a water, urine or nair filled balloon when you are in an expenive suit on your way to an interview. I don’t think that you would think that is fun. Yes kids are allowed to have fun when and where it is appropriate. You are the reason why the youth of today are so disrespectful

    • twinkle

      I agree 100% with you!

  • The Wise Owl

    There is no such thing as a bad student…..only bad teachers!

    • the wise owl

      *There are no such things as bad kids just bad parents.

  • TERESA

    WHERE THE BALLONS REALLY FILLED WITH NAIR AND URINE???

  • Sim

    These animals don’t belong in society, they belong in jungle. Ship them off to an isolated island for a week and see how they would like to throw water baloons at each other then?

    • number 24

      uhh what? some of the people commenting on this thing really need to learn how to write correctly …. these animals that had a WATER BALLOON FIGHT FOR A SENIOR PRANK?!?!?! YOUR LUCKY THAT THEY DIDNT DO SOMETHING WORSE. each year that school is tightening up their rules more and more to make the kids rebel. after going through that school for 6 years, having a water balloon fight should not take away their ability to walk .

      • The Big Guy

        YOU’RE!!!!!

  • ben stein

    ps if the school doesn’t follow up on the consequences it metes out, how will kids ever know they are serious? this could have caused someone to get hit by a car or be blinded. ps mr cbs reporter: maybe this isnt a first offense

  • ben stein

    but you know they nearly caused a traffic accident and the crossing guard was hit with a water balloon allegedly filled with Nair and Urine.
    They kids knew the consequences up front. Why do parents ALWAYS think their kids can do know wrong. THose kids wind up in jail or the army. trust me, i know

    • April Lazarus

      I just found out – i am in shock!

  • April Lazarus

    I retract my previous comment after I just found out that the water balloons were filled with urine & nair!!! URINE & NAIR!!!! Not only do they not deserve to graduate BUT THERE SHOULD BE CRIMINAL CHARGES!! Wow! I am in shock!

  • jpoh

    Right…it’s going to have a profound effect on them. They are leaving the school for good in two days. Leave them alone…

  • April Lazarus

    This is seriously pathetic….they are leaving the school so there is nothing left to take away from them except the grad ceremony. This punishment is way too extreme for water balloons! They are kids having fun to celebrate the culmination of 4 years of hard work. Give them community service and don’t ruin a right of passage for them AND their families!

  • Big Nard

    How else will the learn???? Those students are lucky no one is pressing charges for assult.

  • Shawn

    they were warned and now have to suffer the consequences, that’s what they get.

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