School lifts suspensions after Post-it prank

CLAYTON, Ind. (WISH) - Hours after suspending nearly six dozen students as they protested earlier suspensions and a custodian's firing in connection with a senior prank, the school announced that all students who had been suspended will be allowed to return to school Thursday. They'll have to serve an in-school detention.

School officials on Wednesday suspended 57 students demonstrating in support of a janitor fired after she was on hand when students went to the school before class for a Post-it note prank .

The school's superintendent, Patrick Spray, issued a statement Wednesday evening regarding the lifted suspensions.

The students staged a sit-in at the gym and got suspended Wednesday morning. They then moved outside of the school and were being threatened with further penalties.

The protest stems from a prank in which five seniors and one junior put 11,000 sticky notes in the school before school hours. It happened on Monday. The students responsible were suspended for two days. The custodial staff member who let the students in was fired.

Students tell 24-Hour News 8 they were given permission. They also say a school board member gave them a key.

No word if the janitor will get her job back.

“We are in a tough spot," Spray said. "We have to make personnel and discipline decisions, we have to see what was violated and what was appropriate in making decisions.”