Colossal food fight lands entire 8th grade in trouble

(CBS/KOVR) A colossal food fight planned on Facebook has landed every 8th grade student at a Sacramento, Calif., middle school in trouble, said school officials.

Hundreds of kids apparently spent days hatching the plan before the edible melee was launched at Arden Middle School last Friday.

"Once it started there was screaming, kids ran out of the gymnasium. It was a big mess," said student Sophia Burgess. "The vice principal said it took 15-man hours to clean up."

After the San Juan Unified School District found the Facebook page that students used to organize the stunt, they discovered that about three out of every four 8th graders either participated in the food fight or knew about it and kept quiet.

"When you have that great number participating, the consequences are going to be quite broad," said district spokesman Trent Allen.

The punishment was the breaking of a decades-long tradition - the 8th grade graduation trip to the Great America amusement park in Santa Clara was canceled.

So few students were eligible to attend that the costs to take them became too high.

"You ruined our school year," Burgess said.