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Posted by: masscopguy

Teachers Stage Fake Gun Attack on Kids

AP
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (May 13) - 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."

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Posted by: JoninNH

Declined to say whether the staff members would face discipline? You've got to be fucking kidding me! They should all be fired! If that were my kid, there'd be fucking lawsuits.

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Posted by: SOT

I would beat these dumb fcuks within an inch of their lives. Then I would fire them.

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Posted by: NewEngland2007

Why is "poor judgement" always the excuse? Poor judgement is fried dough and a Tilt-A-Whirl or sandals and socks, not this kind of cruel and moronic behavior.

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Posted by: masscopguy

Tonight's news reports said the school administrators have decided not to fire any of the educators involved because " they have done a fantastic job"

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Posted by: Cinderella

Teachers in hold-up 'prank'



Teachers at a US primary school terrified children by staging a fake gun attack and shouting: "This isn't a drill!"
The 69 pupils, aged 10 and 11, cried and hid under tables as the lights went out and a hooded teacher pulled at the locked door, reports the Daily Mirror.
Then the teachers turned on the lights and said it was just a joke.
Parents are furious, especially after last month's Virginia Tech massacre in which 33 students and staff died.
Bosses of the school in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, said the five-minute "prank" was intended as a "learning experience".
Principal Catherine Stephens said it was "poor judgment" but added: "I hope we learn from this."
The school website claimed children were warned a prank would be played and afterwards "most said, 'That was a good one, you got me'.
But it admitted: "This prank crossed the line... prompt and appropriate discipline will be taken."



http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_2332564.html?menu=

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Posted by: justanotherparatrooper

just imagine what wouldve happened had a police officer happened to be in the building at that time....what would they be screaming had one of them been killed during theyre 'drill'?

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Posted by: lpwpd722

How ridiculous is that. I would have beat them, locked them up and throw away the keys. These are 6 graders so their about 11 or 12 yoa. Some of those kids will be scarred for life. Where was the teachers common sense. I could see one teacher maybe taking leave of his sense but there were several teachers.

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Posted by: masscopguy

By NATALIA MIELCZAREK
Staff Writer

An assistant principal and a lead teacher were suspended without pay Monday for pulling a prank in which they told sixth-graders on a field trip that there was a gunman shooting in the state park where they were staying.
Don Bartch, assistant principal at Scales Elementary in Murfreesboro, and lead teacher Quentin Mastin were suspended until the school year ends June 1 for "unprofessional conduct and neglect of duty," according to a statement released Monday afternoon by Murfreesboro city schools. Neither man could be reached for comment.
Brandy Cole, who said her son told her he wished he hadn't gone on the trip, said she was disappointed the teachers didn't receive a harsher punishment.
"I'm glad that they saw fit to take disciplinary action, but basically they're getting two weeks of vacation. That's not discipline; that's two weeks off without pay," Cole said.
"They should be treated just like a student would be if the shoe was on the other foot."
Bartch and Mastin were among four teachers and two assistants who last week chaperoned 69 sixth-graders on a weeklong field trip to Fall Creek Falls state park, about 130 miles southeast of Nashville. The students were told Thursday night that there was a gunman on the loose and they had to take cover.
Some got upset and started to cry. According to the school district, the prank was used by teachers as a learning experience to teach kids how to react in a "code red" emergency situation, and the few students who got upset were comforted afterward.
But the incident left parents like Cole outraged and drew international media attention.
Mastin was the mastermind behind the prank, said Cheryl Harris, spokeswoman for the city school system.
"I think it was his night for a spooky story. It was his turn, and unfortunately, it turned out that it was just too close to the frightening situation at Virginia Tech," Harris said.
"No one planned for it to be as frightening as it was. But the story, it's just become so sensationalized."
Niki Morris, whose daughter Shay Naylor went on the trip, said she didn't think Bartch and Mastin were treated fairly.
"That's not right," Morris said. "I thought that the apology was enough and it was time to let it go. I'm very sorry that two good people are being punished for a very tragic mistake."
The statement from the school system did not say whether any other teachers on the trip face disciplinary action.

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Posted by: JoninNH

Great. These teachers get to start off summer early. Screw that, I want to see charges filed.

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Posted by: masscopguy

When this story was first reported it was being called a drill now it is being called a prank.

It turns out that this trip is an annual event for 6th graders and it has become a tradition for the teachers on the trip to pull a funny prank on the students sometime during the trip.

Now, the bright bulb educator leading this years trip came up with the gunman on the loose stunt as the prank to pull on the kids.

And we wonder why Johnny can't read.

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Posted by: TC66

in this day an age.,these whacked (teachers) were lucky none of the students were armed and started firing in perceived self-defense...
freakin nut cases.

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Posted by: BSP4141

this would go over like a fart in church at a boston public school

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Posted by: dcs2244

Imagine what would have happened to a cop who had been filmed giving some dirtbag a "dope-slap-incident-to-arrest"?

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It's okay for teachers, though. Perhaps that's because they are in charge of Marxist indoctrination at a government training center...er, education at a public school...

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