Staged assault on 6th-graders unfolds on school trip; parents not amused
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 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.”
--Had my child been involved, I'd be having a little quality time with those teachers, one at a time.
It may have been Handled wrong, possibly by not explaining and preparing the Children for a Drill, But We do fire drills, and earthquake drills,and Bus evacuation drills so as to have our students prepared in our school so that there is no Chaos if an event occurs.
I think students should be prepared in this dangerous world we live in for whatever may happen, any less is just like burying your head in the sand.
I think all schools should have plans for SHTF situations.
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[I]You know you might be facing your doom,when all you get is a click when you're expecting a BOOM!:( [/I]
They didn't tell the children it was a drill, Rich. They told them it was real, and the children thought they were going to die.
I'd have that vice-principal's pair hanging on my wall, if he had scared my children like that.
Agreed. A drill is always announced as a drill, no matter what kind. Even if you're just going through the motions, it still prepares you for the real thing.
This was extremely poor judgement on the staff's part. They're lucky that all adults present were either informed of the REAL situation or were not carrying concealed. I'm sure they wouldn't be too happy if Mr. Hooded Staffmember was shot by a responsible and proud-to-CCW adult.
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Shock Value can be a Valuable learning tool...Yeah ,I'm from the old school where they shocked us with Nuclear attacks that were "NOT A Drill" during the 60's ...Taught us real fast to be ready and keep Low ! Kids today are so Wimpy, and act like slugs during drills normally, because they know it is a drill.
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[I]You know you might be facing your doom,when all you get is a click when you're expecting a BOOM!:( [/I]
How can you prepare kids to encounter a mad-mad with a gun,lay on floor hide under desks?As far as the exercise in terror by staff=Stupidity to the max what idiots.
Shock Value can be a Valuable learning tool...Yeah ,I'm from the old school where they shocked us with Nuclear attacks that were "NOT A Drill" during the 60's ...Taught us real fast to be ready and keep Low ! Kids today are so Wimpy, and act like slugs during drills normally, because they know it is a drill.
Lie on the floor and fill your pants because you're a little kid trapped in a room by a gun-toting maniac? I'm not sure exactly how useful a skill that is....
I agree that Assistant Principal Don Bartch is out of his mind.
I could see a mock attack drill if the school district approved from maybe a college of higher learning had grant to test how many soiled their underware and other pyhco mabajamba.
But to do this on his own accord, that's Barbra Strisand!
As an elementary school teacher, I think this is wrong. All involved should face strong discipline, including termination. Something needs to be done to prepare kids for bad stuff, but not this way.
I totally see doing severe weather drills because you can predict a tornado, and you know what a tornado will do. However, a maniac is not predictable, making any type of drill very tough. The kids should have been notified, because an experiance like that can leave quite an impression.
I see nothing wrong with running kids through a drill, so they'll be familiar with what to do in a bad situation. In a fire drill, you line them up and march them out so they'll know where to go; in an earthquake drill, you make sure they know how to get under their desk. It doesn't matter whether they do it enthusiastically or not; you just want them to know the expected routine.
I wouldn't really have minded these people saying, "kids, we're going to practice what to do in case a nutjob with a gun storms the school and tries to get into the classroom, Ok?" Although as Lng Rng points out, I'm not sure what you're going to teach them, aside from "hug the floor tight, because most people shoot high after the first shot or two."
But I don't see the point of deliberately scaring them half to death instead, without having given them any previous guidance on what to do if the SHTF.
You don't do a fire drill by running into a classroom and screaming, "the school is burning!" without ever having told the children what to do in case of fire.
You don't do a fire drill by running into a classroom and screaming, "the school is burning!" without ever having told the children what to do in case of fire.
I know that if you yell fire in a theater with out the presance of fire, you are subject to punishment by law. I know the situation is different. He did not cause mass panic in a crowded place that could resusult in injury, by someone being trampled for example. But what he did resulted in mass panic with his actions, but thankfully nobody was hurt.
I wonder what would have happened if a by stander called LEO. Or even worse. What if the bystander had a CCW. I can see the headlines "Teacher shot by gunman during drill" Who do you think would take the blame then!!!
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Running is not a plan. Running is what you do when your plan fails.
Just on FOX NEWS,It's now being tauted as a "prank"put fourth by the teachers on the kids.A life or death "prank"It's time for heads to roll ,but that wont remove the memory of terror from young minds.
I don't equate this FUBAR with a fire drill. I'm a "floor warden" in my state office building, and we run the drills as if they were real - because otherwise the employees don't take it seriously and will lollygag down the stairs or remain in their offices. The drills are NEVER announced. Often, even we wardens don't know if it was real or drill til afterwards.
But to pull this nonsense on young schoolkids is wrong. Some kids with breathing difficulties or certain health conditions could have a serious problem getting that freaked out. Disciplinary action is called for here, I think.
Now I am sorry Guys! But I have to weigh in on this. After 20+ years in the Navy and all the training we went through I feel I am more than qualified to speak on this. There were only 2 types of drills we ever conducted that were NEVER announced as drills. Only 2, one of them was a security alert and the other was a Nuclear propulsion security alert. But still the Senior member of the response team (On my duty days it was me) always knew it was a drill. Thus subsequently once the team arrived for weapons issue they knew too. Those drills were not so much intended to train the response team as it was to train ships company to freeze stay where they were and sit down. (Anyone moving was considered fair game). This situation is simply ludicris, how in the world did this village idiot ever become a vice principle of any school? If any of those children had been mine I promise you his dumb a** would have out in the woodshed with me getting a lil 1 on 1 instruction... Morons!
Tennessee teachers stage fake gunman attack 
