Updated — the Suffern Guard House sides were painted pink and not the gate itself as first reported.

Coloring outside the lines.

The Suffern High School Guard House got painted pink early Friday morning. Call it a senior prank. With Senior Prom and graduation just around the corner, and most final grades already booked, students often get giddy at this time of year.

SHS Principal Pat Breen sent out a firm warning that the painting of the guard house, itself a sort of symbol of being locked in school, is considered a violation of the District’s Code Conduct.

“At this time, the High School has filed a police report and will be working with law enforcement to help determine who committed this damage to High School property,” wrote Breen in a missive to parents.

The pink prank vandals, if tracked down, could face consequences ranging from police action to suspension and loss of Prom and participation in Commencement Exercises.

A painted pink guard house today, the unwinding of civil society tomorrow. The SHS guard gate has been prompted repainted a non pink color.

Photo by Nancy Kriz Gathering at the symbolic “T” rock outside George F. Baker High School in Tuxedo are Greenwood Lake residents Andrew Mahoney, left, Katherine Purdy, Bryan Dalton and Carolyn Rink.

Emblems of spirit and community

Many schools have historic emblems that act as rallying points for students. Schools also have traditions of pranking said emblems. Even the University of Georgia Bulldog once got “lost” to arch rival Auburn. Tuxedo has the T Rock on the edge of the school’s green, proudly painted in Tornado colors. With Greenwood Lake students getting “evicted,” as one student put it, the T has lately become a symbol of something lost.

Nancy Kriz, writing for The Photo-News, has an interesting article  on “The end of an era” in Tuxedo.

The end of this school year marks the end of a 30-year relationship between Tuxedo and Greenwood Lake, with GWL students heading off to other schools, including Chester and Warwick. The split between school districts came down to money in the end. The cost of a George Baker education was more than the Greenwood Lake School District wanted to pay.

Junior Katherine Purdy would have been valedictorian of the George F. Baker High School class of 2016. She expressed loss over changing schools and direction.

“My senior year is gone,” she said. “I would have been valedictorian. I would have given that speech at graduation. I would have been captain of the basketball team. But the school boards took that away, that opportunity for me, and other kids, because of a grudge. It’s so ridiculous. I feel like I was robbed.”

Purdy will also attend Rockland Community College next year, where she will take most of her classes, though she has registered with the Chester Academy.

Read the entire Nancy Kriz article here.