While some of his classmates wanted to execute senior pranks that would potentially disrupt classes, Missouri high school student Kylan Scheele opted for some tomfoolery that was a little more chill.
“Other people were going to release live mice or, you know, building a beach in the front lobby area,” Scheele told Kansas City’s Fox affiliate. “And I thought let’s do something more laid back, so I just decided to post the school for sale.”
Scheele listed Truman High School for the reasonable price of $12,275 on Craigslist. His post described the building as a “Huge 20+ room facility” and listed the following selling points, among others:
- “Newly build football field.”
- “Newly added 4 modern day rooms.”
- “Next to Walmart for convenience.”
- “Huge parking lot, great for partygoers looking for somewhere to park.”
- “Bigger than normal dinning room.”
- “Reason for sale is due to loss of students coming up.”
- “Named after hometown resident U.S. President Harry S. Truman and his family.”
But while Scheele’s internet high jinks didn’t cause a headache for school janitors or violate any health codes, that “loss of students” comment concerned school administrators enough that they took action.
“I decided to say the reason we’re selling this is because of ‘the loss of students,’ because the senior class is graduating,” said Scheele.
Independence Police Department detectives investigated the Craigslist ad and decided not to pursue criminal charges, but told Scheele to remove the post and suggested he speak with school administrators.
But that didn’t seem to help much. Scheele told the local news outlet that the administration suspended him for the remainder of the school year and is not allowing him to walk in his graduation this weekend. The school, it seems, saw the post as an “implied threat,” albeit not a credible one. According to a statement from a Independence School District:
Out of an abundance of caution, administrators and police investigated and determined there was not a credible threat. A student who makes a real or implied threat, whether it is deemed credible or not, will face discipline. Due to the heightened concern nationally with school violence, we have extra police officers for the remainder of the school year and will have additional officers at graduations for all of our high schools.
“They tried to relate it back to all the recent school shootings and everything—they tried tying it back to that,” Scheele told the Fox 4 Kanas City. “But I don’t see how it was a threat at all.”
Scheele’s mom Denetra Clark is trying to see the bright side of the school district’s decision. “He’s going to get his diploma no matter what,” Clark said. “But maybe the party will start sooner.”