Bonehead boys at fancy NYC prep school set up fake border-patrol checkpoint, ask to see students' ‘papers' — as mariachi band plays
The tone-deaf stunt at the $65,900-a-year all-boys Upper West Side prep school lit up a Facebook group of local moms at first puzzled by the musicians playing outside while surrounded by teens waving American flags — with some of the mothers thinking it was a May Day or pre-Cinco de Mayo celebration.
A thread on the 'UWS Mommas' Facebook group viewed by The Post revealed the parents' growing chagrin as they learned more details about the scene.
'It was senior prank day,' a parent wrote. 'The seniors decided to set up a border patrol and made all the students go through it at arrival. I can't imagine how humiliating it felt for the Latino students.'
A senior prank at Manhattan's elite College School featured a fake border checkpoint and a mariachi band. Luiz C. Ribeiro for New York Post
Another mom, alluding to President Trump's border and immigration policies, added to the thread: 'If that's a prank, it's in serious poor taste at the moment, and needs following up.'
Additional shocking details about the stunt were revealed by Gothamist, which first reported on the boys' antics — and subsequent outrage from school staff and other students about the alleged anti-immigrant motives.
The pranksters set up a cardboard booth May 1 wreathed in caution tape, from which they asked to see students' 'papers,' Gothamist reported.
They also had an inflatable eagle riding a motorcycle in the school's lobby and adorned its entrance with American and Texas flags, according to the report.
The mariachi band played outside while other students waved American flags.
'It was really bizarre seeing middle aged Latino men playing music next to white kids draped in the American flag. It looked exploitative,' a mom on the Facebook forum wrote.
Leadership at Collegiate School did not return Post requests for comment. Gothamist said the head of the school, Bodie Brizendine, emailed parents and staff that officials 'regret that this 'prank' took the turn that it did.'
Smirking students leaving class Tuesday all denied knowing about the prank to The Post. Luiz C. Ribeiro for New York Post
A teacher outside the school Tuesday confirmed that an embarrassing jest went awry but didn't know specifics.
'They brought it up in our meeting but they didn't go into detail,' the teacher said. 'They were just saying how it was unacceptable.
'Now, I'm even more curious as to what actually occurred.'
Scores of smirking students left class Tuesday and denied knowing what happened to The Post.
Collegiate School's many illustrious alumni include John F. Kennedy Jr., 'X-Files' actor David Duchovny and former New York Times publisher Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr.
Its current board of trustees includes NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch.
The centuries-old school last year was embroiled in controversy after its former head, David Lourie, allegedly ripped an antisemitism task force as a 'joke' and a 'power play by Jewish families' to have him ousted.
Lourie resigned, and Brizendine took over.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
12 minutes ago
- New York Post
Funeral details revealed for Martha Nolan, Irish designer found dead on Montauk boat
Funeral services for the Irish fashion designer found mysteriously dead aboard a boat at the upscale Montauk Yacht Club earlier this month will be held Wednesday in her hometown in Ireland. Martha Nolan-O'Slatarra, 33, will be remembered at a service at 10 a.m. at the Cathedral of the Assumption in the tiny Irish town of Carlow, followed by burial at the local St. Mary's Cemetery, the Irish Independent reported. The Irish beauty left Carlow — about 50 miles from Dublin — for the Big Apple in 2018 and initially worked as a bottle service girl in SoHo before launching a successful career as a designer. 4 How The Post told the story of Martha Nolan-O'Slatarra, 33, who was found dead on a boat at the Montauk Yacht Club on Aug. 5. scalle 4 Funeral services Nolan-O'Slatarra will be at the Cathedral of the Assumption in her hometown of Carlow in Ireland. Google Maps In New York, she co-founded East x East, a swimwear designer, and the fashion accessories company, Duper — which were successful enough to allow her to summer in the Hamptons. On Aug. 5, Suffolk County police responded to a 911 call at the ritzy Montauk club on Long Island and found Nolan-O'Slatarra unresponsive on a boat named 'Ripple,' one of two belonging to insurance mogul Christopher Durnan, 60. Cops revealed that Nolan-O'Slatarra's body did not show evidence of violence, and her death is now being eyed as a possible accidental drug overdose, sources have said — although her family has demanded further investigation. Studious and driven to succeed, the late designer earned a bachelor's degree in business administration and management from University College in Dublin and went on to earn a master's degree in digital marketing at the UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate School of Business, also in Dublin, in 2014. 4 Nolan-O'Slatarra, 33, co-founded the fashion designer East x East based in Manhattan. Facebook / Martha Nolan 4 The designer was found dead on 'Ripple,' one of two boats at the Montauk Yacht Club owned by businessman Christopher Durnan, 60. Luiz C. Ribeiro for New York Post 'I always knew I wanted to be successful, that I was money-driven, business-driven, and that fashion is a tough industry and it would be a slow road,' she told the Independent last year. Her obituary said, 'She will be sadly missed by her loving mother and her mother's partner Patrick, sister, aunts, uncles, partner, her father Seamus and her siblings, her grandfather Jimmy Slattery, extended family, relatives and her large circle of friends in Ireland and the US.'
The Hill
12 minutes ago
- The Hill
House Democrat: DC ‘not the safest place in the world'
Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) said Sunday that Washington, D.C., is 'not the safest place in the world' amid President Trump's crackdown on crime in the District and pushback from Democrats over the president's actions. 'Both of my children live in Washington, D.C. You know it's not — it's not the safest place in the world,' Smith told NewsNation's Chris Stirewalt on 'The Hill Sunday.' 'And also some of the policies the Democrats advanced around crime over the course of the last 10 or 15 years very clearly did not work. There was not enough transparency and not enough accountability,' he added. Last week, Trump announced he was taking federal control of D.C.'s police department and deploying the National Guard in the city to combat crime. Since then, he has received heavy pushback on his law enforcement moves from Democrats and District residents. On Monday, Mississippi became the fourth Republican -led state to unveil plans to dispatch National Guard troops to D.C. to boost Trump's crackdown on crime in the District. 'I've approved the deployment of approximately 200 Mississippi National Guard Soldiers to Washington, D.C., to support President Trump's effort to return law and order to our nation's capital,' Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves (R) said on the social platform X. Smith said last Tuesday it was 'pretty clear' Trump ''wants his own domestic police force.' 'Look, this president is trampling on basic freedoms of the American people to a degree we — I don't think we've ever seen,' Smith said on CNN. 'You see that with what the ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] agents are doing, in terms of picking people up off the streets with no evidence, no due process, locking people up.' 'This is happening all across the country,' the Evergreen State Democrat added. 'Look, it's pretty clear the president wants his own domestic police force, and step by step, he's trying to create it, and we should be deeply alarmed by that, regardless of how you feel about crime in Washington, D.C., or any other city.'
Boston Globe
12 minutes ago
- Boston Globe
Mississippi becomes fourth state to send National Guard troops to D.C. in expanding federal crackdown
Mississippi joins three other states that have pledged to deploy hundreds of National Guard members to the nation's capital to bolster the Republican administration's operation aiming to transform policing in the Democratic-led city through a federal crackdown on crime and homelessness. West Virginia said it was deploying 300 to 400 troops, South Carolina pledged 200 and Ohio said it will send 150 in the coming days, deployments that built on top of President Trump's initial order that 800 National Guard troops deploy as part of the federal intervention. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Trump's executive order that launched the federal operation declared a 'crime emergency' in the District of Columbia and initiated a takeover Washington's police department. The administration has ordered local police to cooperate with federal agents on immigration enforcement, orders that would contradict local laws prohibiting such collaboration. Advertisement 'D.C. has been under siege from thugs and killers, but now, D.C. is back under Federal Control where it belongs,' Trump wrote on his social media website a day after issuing his order. 'The White House is in charge. The Military and our Great Police will liberate this City, scrape away the filth, and make it safe, clean, habitable and beautiful once more!' Advertisement During a Monday news conference, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser pushed back on Trump's characterization of the city and voiced skepticism about the administration's intentions in flooding the capital with troops and federal agents. 'We don't have any authority over the DC Guard or any other guards, but I think it makes the point that this is not about DC crime,' Bowser said of the administration and states deploying National Guard members onto the streets of the capital. 'The focus should be on violent crime,' Bowser continued. 'Nobody is against focusing on driving down any level of violence. And so if this is really about immigration enforcement the administration should make that plain.' National Guard members in the District of Columbia have been assisting law enforcement with tasks including crowd control and patrolling landmarks such as the National Mall and Union Station. Their role has been limited thus far, and it remains unclear why additional troops would be needed. Federal agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Secret Service and other agencies have patrolled high traffic areas around the capital over the last week. ICE officers, who work under the Department of Homeland Security, have made arrests in neighborhoods across the city, dispersed some public gatherings and torn pro-immigrant signs, according to videos published by the administration. The White House has touted various arrests that local police and federal agents have made across the city since Trump's executive order. Federal agents have made 380 arrests in the week since the start of the operation and in some cases issued charges to detained people. The White House has touted the surge of agents on social media and posted pictures of people arrested by local and federal officers. Advertisement 'Washington, DC is getting safer every night thanks to our law enforcement partners,' Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote on social media. 'Just this weekend, 137 arrests were made and 21 illegal firearms were seized. In total, there have been nearly 400 arrests—and we are not slowing down.' Amid the crackdown, the administration has received criticism for the conduct of some federal agents, who in several high-profile incidents have arrested people while wearing masks that hide their identity and declined to identify themselves to media or members of the public when questioned. Bowser said Monday that she had asked D.C. Police Chief Pamela Smith to seek answers from the administration about the use of masked police. 'It's very important to us that agents be identified,' Bowser said. 'There's no reason for a law enforcement official to be masked.' Over the weekend in Washington, protesters pushed back on federal law enforcement and National Guard troops fanning out in the city. Scores of protesters gathered in the city's Dupont Circle on Saturday and marched to the White House. — Associated Press writer Jeff Amy in Atlanta contributed to this report.
