On an unknown date over spring break, a group of teenagers entered the Palo Alto High School campus with a BB gun, which was used to break eight windows.

The punishment for those responsible could be restitutioned, with the potentially consist of suspension or expulsion.

According to the general rules and regulations section in the Paly handbook, firearms and firearm lookalikes may not be brought onto campus. The punishment for such actions are possible suspension, expulsion and arrest.

According to Vice Principal Jerry Berkson, such offenses could, in fact affect students applying to colleges.

“It could [affect the students applying to college] in that if you are suspended or expelled you need to explain that to the schools,” Berkson said.

After working with the district and police department, Berkson did find the people responsible.

“Sometimes teenagers don’t think and they do things without thinking too hard,” Berkson said. “And you just hope they learn from it and there’s consequences, which will be figured out as we go through the process a little more. But you do a lot of damage like this, it gets kinda expensive, and it can set you back a little bit.” 

Paly is not unfamiliar with such instances of vandalism. In the fall of 2014, actor and Paly alumnus James Franco painted several murals  on the sides of the Student Center.

One mural was subsequently spray-painted with the words “how do you vandalize garbage?” over the mural this past February.

In order to prevent future instances of vandalism, Paly plans on installing video cameras all around campus.

Another instance of graffiti on Paly campus consisted of racist and pro-Donald Trump messages that has been found around campus over the past several weeks, mainly found in the bathroom stalls and doors of the men’s bathroom.

One instance of the graffiti read “Trump 1237,” referring to the number of delegates needed to capture the Republican Party nomination.

The other instance read “black lives suck,” referring to the “#BlackLivesMatter” movement.

Pictures were taken of both graffiti instances and the graffiti was taken down as quick as possible, as to avoid giving the vandals the attention they desire.