Posted on 05/13/2007 3:04:17 PM PDT by TornadoAlley3
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. -- Staff members of an elementary school staged a fictitious gun attack on students during a class trip, telling them it was not a drill as the children cried and hid under tables.
The mock attack Thursday night was intended as a learning experience and lasted five minutes during the weeklong trip to a state park, said Scales Elementary School Assistant Principal Don Bartch, who led the trip.
"We got together and discussed what we would have done in a real situation," he said.
But parents of the sixth-grade students were outraged.
"The children were in that room in the dark, begging for their lives, because they thought there was someone with a gun after them," said Brandy Cole, whose son went on the trip.
Some parents said they were upset by the staff's poor judgment in light of the April 16 shootings at Virginia Tech that left 33 students and professors dead, including the gunman.
During the last night of the trip, staff members convinced the 69 students that there was a gunman on the loose. They were told to lie on the floor or hide underneath tables and stay quiet. A teacher, disguised in a hooded sweat shirt, even pulled on locked door.
After the lights went out, about 20 kids started to cry, 11-year-old Shay Naylor said.
"I was like, 'Oh My God,' " she said. "At first I thought I was going to die. We flipped out."
Principal Catherine Stephens declined to say whether the staff members involved would face disciplinary action, but said the situation "involved poor judgment."
You can’t possibly be serious that this was a good excercise. This should have made ones blood boil. And in Tennessee. I can’t believe there are fathers down there banging on a few doors.
Wow...let’s traumatize a bunch of kids, why don’t we? Those teachers should be fired and brought up on charges.
I hate that there is a need to prepare our babies but.....
What’s that pic from? I remember it but can’t remember where.
Realyy? Outside the blast radius? Of a 1MT hyrogen air blast, or a 20MT air blast?
Check your facts—we know what happened at Hiroshima and Nagasaki-hydrogen blasts were calculated to be tens of times worse then those.
12 miles is nothing as a radius.Incineration/air blast full of debris, intense radiation and fallout any one or all could do you in.
I didn’t say that. I’m said that drills are not a bad thing if done properly. A few things were missed here...not scaring children, bringing parents into the loop, etc. It’s hard to believe this happened. Yall sure it’s real.?
There is more to motive than meets the eye. These school officials might claim to have staged this “drill” for practical purposes, but I have no doubt they were partly motivated by sadistic tendencies.
The punishment must be severe.
Unbelievable! How could adults be so stupid? I bet there are going to be some lawsuits over this. Some of those children could be permanently damaged. There’s all kinds of emotional problems that could come up later from such a frightening experience. Whoever came up with this idiotic plan needs to be fired.
Bad idea. I wouldn't trust these teachers to carry a banana safely.
Heads should roll but I bet the kids recover ok. The parents though...........
Hydrogen 1 megaton:
Radius: 7.4 miles
1 psi
Residences are moderately damaged. Commercial buildings have sustained minimal damage. Twenty-five percent of the population between the 2 and 1 psi rings have been injured, mainly by flying glass and debris. Many others have been injured from thermal radiation — the heat generated by the blast. The remaining seventy-five percent are unhurt.
NOTE: This information has been drawn mainly from “The Effects of Nuclear War” (Washington: Office of Technology Assessment, Congress of the United States, 1979). The zones of destruction described on this page are broad generalizations and do not take into account factors such as weather and geography of the target.
the staff played a prank on the kids, convincing them there was a gunman on the loose.
A teacher wearing a hooded sweatshirt pulled on a locked door, pretending to be a suspicious subject in the area.
I think permission from the administration and parents would be required to do something like this, and I bet there are less drastic ways to get the message across.
I have a daughter who teaches music to these same age kiddies, and she will probably be livid when I send her this article. She tells me often of how tender the feelings are at this age, and I recall when mine were that little.
I was the kind of Mom who wasn't shy about taking on the whole school administration over my kids.
In fact, I'm ready right now! Anybody wanna go with? ;)
ABSOLUTELY NOT! The fathers should have staged a "Aluminum Baseball Bat Attack" on the teacher. Hell he's got a gun. Seems like a fair fight to me.
You’re right we should prepare but not this way. It will only terrorize kids. If these kids now are faced with a real gunman at school they will be even more afraid than they would have been without having the “drill” experience.
Yes, now plug in 5 MT, 10 MT, 15 MT, and 20 MT and see what you get.
Yep. They forget who these kids belong to sometimes, don’t they? Thanks for the invite but my taking on administration days are on pause right now until the grandkids get a little bigger:’) Regrouping!
Yep. They forget who these kids belong to sometimes, don’t they? Thanks for the invite but my taking on administration days are on pause right now until the grandkids get a little bigger:’) Regrouping!
Lot of those in your closet? Because, in the 60’s, nobody had one.
Idiots.
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