Montco HS Students Charged For Releasing Chicken In Hallway

LOWER POTTSGROVE, PA — Two Pottsgrove High School students were cited by police after releasing a live chicken in the school's hallways, leading an incident that has been characterized as "harmless" to "hysteria" depending on who you ask.

Sara Sabri Amer, 18, and Emmalyn Huber, also age 18, of Pottstown, were cited with disorderly conduct for the incident, which ruffled feathers of the school's brass. They've also been suspended for 10 days and are not allowed to walk in their school's graduation, according to a Fox29 report.

The incident occurred on Wednesday, May 23 at about 10:45 a.m.

Police said the girls entered the school wearing "black clothing" and their faces covered, so that, by some accounts, it wasn't clear who they were. That's when they "let loose" the chicken in the hallways.

It's not exactly clear what foul the fowl committed, but clucking from school officials and students paint sharply disparate accounts of what happened next.

According to Superintendent William Shirk, the chicken caused widespread "hysteria" that nearly led to a school-wide lockdown.

Lower Pottsgrove Police offered a moderated take that the chicken "disrupted the daily activities at the school."

Students, in a petition supporting Amer and Huber, called it a harmless senior prank "that caused zero harm."

Senior pranks are common in schools this time of year, as students are cooped up in the final days before graduation.

Amer is the senior class president. The pair have apologized for the incident and said they made a mistake in hatching their plan.

Nearly 1,200 supporters had signed the petition, "Punishment Reduction for Senior Prank," as of Wednesday afternoon. There are about 1,000 students in Lower Pottsgrove High School, per U.S. News and World Report.

"In the end, the act was completely harmless and no one was ever in real danger, not even the chicken," wrote Breanna A., who launched the petition. "I feel that these students are receiving cruel and unusual punishment for this harmless act."

Photo by Dave Copeland