The boy’s bathroom by the 400-meter track was vandalized by multiple students who broke doors, toilets, and a window 3 weeks ago, leading to schoolwide assemblies and punishments.

The students involved were quickly identified by the administration and consequences were given. Due to privacy policies, the names of the students involved and the specific consequences were not revealed.

“I can’t get into specifics because we regard the confidentiality and privacy of our students, and any student that is in the disciplinary process,” Paul Navarra, High School Vice-Principal, said.

The administration did reveal that the students involved had to pay for the damage and repair some of the damage themselves.

“The students paid for the door, they installed the door. They actually worked together with mantenimineto to put it together,” Navarra said.

Beyond consequences, the school has also been focusing on preventing this from happening again, as well as apologizing to those who were the most affected by the situation.

“Also recognizing what their damage was, how they impacted others. So working with maintenance, talking to maintenance, apologizing to maintenance,” Navarra said.

Because the entire disciplinary process was kept confidential, some students, parents and staff were left with the belief that the school’s approach to the issues has been insuffieicent.

“The school is definitely not doing enough since there are many things the school can be doing and they’re just not thinking about it,” Gabriel Meynard, Grade 11, said.

Many students also believe that beyond the physical damage done to the campus, the school’s reputation and the way the community views TCS has also been negatively affected.

“I was not directly impacted, but the school reputation was. Everybody in other schools in Medellin heard what happened, impacting our reputation,” Tomas Arcila, Grade 11, said.

The recent actions have not only sparked controversy in the school but also have puzzled administration and students alike with the sudden lack of discipline.

“We’re seeing a lot of erratic behavior coming out of the pandemic, and I think that obviously plays a factor in what’s going on,” Navarra said.

Even though the school is working to address behavior issues through assemblies and focus groups to clarify behavior expectations, many in the school community still feels disappointed with the actions committed by the students.

“For the students to be doing those types of things really makes us think, ‘Is this really the school that we all came to?’” Meynard said.