More than a dozen students at San Ramon's California High School were punished for a senior prank that ended up killing a mouse.
Some students in response said the school's reaction was too harsh.
Students at California High shared cell phone video to NBC Bay Area of what they call an impromptu dance party on campus.
Student Andrew Desoto said the party was a great time until he noticed a handful of mice running around the crowd that soon turned into a small mosh pit in the quad.
"Mice are getting stepped on," Desoto said. "I threw away a dead mouse and I picked up a mice and put it in a cup and handed it to someone to get it away. I felt bad for the mice."
Three mice were rescued, but one was killed by someone in the crowd.
Desoto was in the quad when it happened and received a two-day suspension, including Friday's senior trip to Great America.
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"Some of them had been warned related to previous incidents, so it was a cumulative repercussion," San Ramon Valley Unified School District spokesperson Elizabeth Graswich said.
A total of 15 students were punished for the incident and the student who brought the mice was punished more severely, Graswich said.
"All I did was run up, saw some friends and start dancing," student Spencer Keller said.
Keller said school officials have canceled his scheduled guitar performance on graduation day as punishment for dancing in the mosh pit. He believes his actions should not be compared to the student who brought the mice and put them in danger.
"The consequences, this severity doesn't match what I did," Keller said.
School district officials did not elaborate on how many students were suspended, but said that all of the students involved will be allowed to attend graduation.
