MURFREESBORO, Tennessee (AP) -- 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. (Watch student recount incident, mother react Video)
"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 a 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."
Oh, my God; I care so little, I almost passed out.
maybe it's time to start running drills on what to do when some crazy ass pulls out a bunch of guns and starts blasting everyone. it's getting pretty common in your country.
you do fire drills all the time and how many schools burn down? educating on how to react when someone decides to bear arms in the high school cafeteria might be a good idea instead of running around screaming.
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 a locked door.
In any of the school violence we've seen happen, has sticking around ever been a good idea? a locked door is not going to stop a guy with a gun.
Training and drilling is one thing. Everybody knew when they fire bell went off and we filed orderly into the hall that it was for practice (or someone was about to get detention.)
In Cali we had earthquake drills, the ground wasn't shaking and the ceiling wasn't falling in as we ducked and covered.
In Germany we even had air raid drills, but no planes were diving at Mr. Counts fifth grade class for effect.
You can practice something to get kids familiar with the procedure without having to scare them to the point of crying and begging for their lives.
It's not a bad idea to implement a plan for insane gunmen attacks. But I'm not sure that's the way to go about it...
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 a locked door.
In any of the school violence we've seen happen, has sticking around ever been a good idea? a locked door is not going to stop a guy with a gun.
Ermmmm it does stop them pretty damn effectively. It did at both Columbine and VA Tech. Cause they try that bump into the door thing that works in movies and figure out that it doesn't really work that way. Then maybe they try the shoot the lock ploy which is also no good...There is a reason cops carry sledgehammers to crack houses...
I can't believe that a teacher (much less a group of teachers) would think that this was a good idea. How do you carry this out without permission from the principal? No child should be traumatized like this. If it was Eric's son, we'd be out for blood.
Lalanae Burundi High Chancellor for Tourism, Sodomy and Pie
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I'm not trying to suggest in the slightest that this was an intelligent decision on the teachers' part, or that they shouldn't have known better, but I heard today that it's a tradition for the teachers to play a prank on the students during this week every year. It was the last day of the camp and they were getting ready to leave, and the teachers pulled their prank.
What kind of retards think this is a good prank a month after the Va. Tech shootings?
"It's like these guys take pride in being ignorant."- Barack Obama
Hey lets tell a bunch of kids that they are about to die! That would be so funny!
I think that's more fucked up than doing it "as a lesson"
Lalanae Burundi High Chancellor for Tourism, Sodomy and Pie
Unofficial Canadian, Forbidden Lover of Pie, Jesus-Hatin'' Sodomite, President of KFC (Kyoukan Fan Club), hawt, perververted, intellectual submissive with E.S.P (Extra Sexual Persuasion)
I think you're being overly dramiatic. I'm sure they didn't tell the students "You're about to die!"
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 a locked door.
Honestly it doesn't sound all that traumatic. That's not to say it wasn't a misguidedly bad idea.
Not sure why the hooded sweat shirt detail is important enough to mention. The door was locked who even knew!
Uhhh, if you thought a gunman was on the loose in your building and you were being told to lay on the floor and hide, and then seeing what is meant to be the gunman trying to get into your room, I think that would be traumatic even as an adult. Now imagine being 11 years old and having to go through that. Kids were crying and begging for their lives. What part of that doesn't sound traumatic?
Lalanae Burundi High Chancellor for Tourism, Sodomy and Pie
Unofficial Canadian, Forbidden Lover of Pie, Jesus-Hatin'' Sodomite, President of KFC (Kyoukan Fan Club), hawt, perververted, intellectual submissive with E.S.P (Extra Sexual Persuasion)
