E. Rockaway bars students from graduation

A group of seniors from East Rockaway High School won't attend their graduation ceremony Friday after district officials banned them for their role in a water balloon fight.

The annual balloon battle took place across the street from the school last Tuesday.

According to an email from East Rockaway Superintendent Roseanne Melucci, two high school administrators, a crossing guard and uninvolved "defenseless" students were hit as they left school, causing a safety and traffic concern. Several students were told to stop and refused, she said.

"The actions of these students created a disorderly and unsafe situation by obstructing vehicular and pedestrian traffic, and by engaging in a willful disruption of the normal operation of the school community," said Melucci, adding that students and parents were warned they might be banned from graduation, the prom and other activities if they engaged in "disruptive acts."

Around 50 students participated, said Taylor DeStefani, 17, a senior and one of the banned students. District officials would not comment on the number of students involved.

"I didn't come out of the school until after the [last] bell, so when I got out there, they were having a water balloon fight six or seven houses from the corner," DeStefani said. "The principal came out and was flipping out on everyone and yelling, and someone hit him with a water balloon."

The boy who hit the administrator, DeStefani and her friends said, wasn't an East Rockaway student.

Parents say they are aggravated because not all the students who participated were disciplined, and they feel the punishment far outweighs the crime.

"We've always held our son accountable for his actions," Jack Gallegro, of East Rockaway, said of his son Anthony, 18, who was banned from the ceremony.

"If he did something wrong, we always stood behind the school 110 percent. With this one, I'm sure he did nothing wrong," he said.

Gallegro and several other parents have made multiple attempts to meet with administrators, but feel they've been brushed off.

"The same way I hold my son accountable, these school officials need to be held accountable, too," Gallegro said. "[These kids] need to know that adults can make mistakes too. They need to stand up and say, 'We made a mistake.' "