St. Louis media outlets report the seniors at Holt High School, which is in the St. Louis suburb of Wentzville, were arrested Thursday. According to reports, three 35-year-old trees were uprooted late Tuesday or early Wednesday from planters in an atrium near the school’s cafeteria, and the students tried to replant them in a softball field outside.

The trees’ root structures were so damaged that they had to be destroyed. According to school district spokeswoman Mary LaPak, the trees, called schefflera, cost $100 for a 4-foot-tall tree.

The trees at the high school were 20 to 25 feet tall.