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Cops: 3rd-graders aimed to hurt teacher
AP on Yahoo ^ | 4/1/08 | Russ Bynum - ap

Posted on 04/01/2008 3:05:27 PM PDT by NormsRevenge

WAYCROSS, Ga. - A group of third-graders plotted to attack their teacher, bringing a broken steak knife, handcuffs, duct tape and other items for the job and assigning children tasks including covering the windows and cleaning up afterward, police said Tuesday.

The plot by as many as nine boys and girls at Center Elementary School in south Georgia was a serious threat, Waycross Police Chief Tony Tanner said.

"We did not hear anybody say they intended to kill her, but could they have accidentally killed her? Absolutely," Tanner said. "We feel like if they weren't interrupted, there would have been an attempt. Would they have been successful? We don't know."

The children, ages 8 and 9, were apparently mad at the teacher because she had scolded one of them for standing on a chair, Tanner said. A prosecutor said they are too young to be charged with a crime under Georgia law.

School officials alerted police Friday after a pupil tipped off a teacher that a girl had brought a weapon to school, Tanner said.

Police seized a broken steak knife, handcuffs, duct tape, electrical and transparent tape, ribbons and a crystal paperweight from the students, who apparently intended to use them against the teacher, Tanner said.

Nine children have been given discipline up to and including long-term suspension, said Theresa Martin, spokeswoman for the Ware County school system. She would not be more specific but said none of the children had been back to school since the case came to light.

The purported target is a veteran educator who teaches third-grade students with learning disabilities including attention deficit disorder, delayed development and hyperactivity, friends and parents said.

The scheme involved a division of roles, Tanner said. One child's job was to cover windows so no one could see outside, he said. Another was supposed to clean up after the attack.

"We're not sure at this point in the investigation how many of the students actually knew the intent was to hurt the teacher," Tanner said.

The parents of the students have cooperated with investigators, who aren't allowed to question the children without their parents' or guardians' consent, he said. Authorities have withheld the children's names.

Police expected to forward the results of their investigation to prosecutors, Tanner said.

Children in Georgia can't be charged with a crime unless they are at least 13, District Attorney Rick Currie said.

Martin told The Florida Times-Union of Jacksonville, Fla., that administrators would follow school system policy and state law in disciplining the students.

"From what I understand, they were considered pretty good kids," Martin said. "But we have to take this seriously, whether they were serious or not about carrying this through, and that's what we did."

Four mothers of other third-grade students at Center Elementary called for the immediate expulsion of the suspected plotters.

Stacy Carter and Deana Hiott both cited school system policy stating that any student who brings "anything reasonably considered to be a weapon" is to be expelled for at least the remainder of the school year.

"We don't want our children around them," Carter told the Times-Union. "The one with the knife could have stabbed my child or someone else's child at lunch or out on the playground."

"This is an isolated incident, an aberration. ... We have good kids," Center Principal Angie Coleman told the newspaper.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; US: Georgia
KEYWORDS: 3rdgraders; aimed; cops; culturalentropy; hurt; publiceducation; publicschool; publicschools; publikskoolz; schoolviolence; teacher
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The purported target is a veteran educator who teaches third-grade students with learning disabilities including attention deficit disorder, delayed development and hyperactivity, friends and parents said.
1 posted on 04/01/2008 3:05:28 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
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The children, ages 8 and 9, were apparently mad at the teacher because she had scolded one of them for standing on a chair, Tanner said. A prosecutor said they are too young to be charged with a crime under Georgia law.

School officials alerted police Friday after a pupil tipped off a teacher that a girl had brought a weapon to school, Tanner said.

Police seized a broken steak knife, handcuffs, duct tape, electrical and transparent tape, ribbons and a crystal paperweight from the students, who apparently intended to use them against the teacher, Tanner said.

I will not ascribe the likely political persuasion of any of the kids parents.

Nope, I will not do it.


2 posted on 04/01/2008 3:07:53 PM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi ... Godspeed ... ICE’s toll-free tip hotline —1-866-DHS-2-ICE ... 9/11 .. Never FoRGeT)
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To: NormsRevenge
I wonder where the kids got the idea?

3 posted on 04/01/2008 3:09:08 PM PDT by Lucky9teen (Note to McCain: The voters are not united FOR you, they are uniting AGAINST Clinton/Obama)
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To: NormsRevenge

We don’t need no education

We don’t need no thought control

No dark sarcasm in the classroom...


4 posted on 04/01/2008 3:11:50 PM PDT by pissant (THE Conservative party: www.falconparty.com)
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To: NormsRevenge
I wonder where the kids got the idea?

5 posted on 04/01/2008 3:12:12 PM PDT by Lucky9teen (Note to McCain: The voters are not united FOR you, they are uniting AGAINST Clinton/Obama)
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To: NormsRevenge
A group of third-graders plotted to attack their teacher, bringing a broken steak knife, handcuffs, duct tape and other items for the job and assigning children tasks including covering the windows and cleaning up afterward, police said Tuesday.

Someone, somewhere, is surely wanting to hire these kids on as management.

6 posted on 04/01/2008 3:28:20 PM PDT by PeterFinn (I am not voting for McCain. No way, no how.)
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To: NormsRevenge

How long until some Freepers who defend every student under all circumstances, comes screaming on this thread trashing the teacher/school and saying that these poor children should not be held responsible because they are just too young and immature (and maybe “learning disabled”), and thus are not capable of understanding the severity of their actions?


7 posted on 04/01/2008 3:41:05 PM PDT by TheBattman (LORD God, please give us a Christian Patriot with a backbone for President in 08, Amen.)
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To: NormsRevenge

Can you imagine what might have happened if one of the kids had brought a DRAWING of a gun to school?


8 posted on 04/01/2008 3:41:07 PM PDT by Balding_Eagle (If America falls, darkness will cover the face of the earth for a thousand years.)
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To: Gabz; SoftballMominVA; abclily; aberaussie; albertp; AliVeritas; AnAmericanMother; andie74; ...

Public Education Ping

This list is for intellectual discussion of articles and issues related to public education (including charter schools) from the preschool to university level. Items more appropriately placed on the “Naughty Teacher” list, “Another reason to Homeschool” list, or of a general public-school-bashing nature will not be pinged.

If you would like to be on or off this list, please ping Amelia, Gabz, or SoftballMominVa

9 posted on 04/01/2008 3:56:01 PM PDT by Amelia (Sometimes the devil you know is better than the devil you don't know....)
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To: NormsRevenge

I will check on this one again on 2 April.


10 posted on 04/01/2008 3:59:56 PM PDT by ThanhPhero (di hanh huong den La Vang)
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To: TheBattman

These poor youts should not be held responsible because they are just too yout-like and immature, and thus are not capable of understanding the severity of their actions.

About 20 minutes.


11 posted on 04/01/2008 4:00:47 PM PDT by muleskinner
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To: NormsRevenge

Daughter worked with some of these kids and some of them DON’T belong in public school.


12 posted on 04/01/2008 4:04:00 PM PDT by SouthTexas (If you are not living on the edge, you are taking up too much space!)
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To: SouthTexas; Lucky9teen

Your daughter worked with some of these kids? Wow - glad she is not working with them now.

I taught 8 and 9 and 10 year olds long time ago. Had some who were very much in need of serious help even at those young ages - but none who would have thought of doing something like what these hellions were thinking of doing.

maybe because that was long before the video fare that is availale today through TV, video rental, and the internet.

Scary world now...truly.


13 posted on 04/01/2008 4:22:15 PM PDT by Freedom'sWorthIt
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To: Freedom'sWorthIt

Not these particular kids, but some just like them and some get far worse as they get older.


14 posted on 04/01/2008 4:37:01 PM PDT by SouthTexas (If you are not living on the edge, you are taking up too much space!)
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To: NormsRevenge

Nobody has the ba—s enough to discipline their kids anymore. It’s not politically correct, and so these kids have grown up not knowing any consequences.

I fear for our future.


15 posted on 04/01/2008 5:53:26 PM PDT by mombyprofession
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To: Lucky9teen
I wonder where the kids got the idea?


16 posted on 04/01/2008 6:02:00 PM PDT by Alouette (Vicious Babushka)
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To: NormsRevenge
"This is an isolated incident, an aberration. ... We have good kids," Center Principal Angie Coleman told the newspaper.

The principal said this???

17 posted on 04/01/2008 7:25:37 PM PDT by my_pointy_head_is_sharp (Remember the phrase "He'd sell out his own grandmother..?" Well, Obama sold out his own grandmother.)
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To: mombyprofession

I have to believe that there is more to the story, that a group of 8 and 9 year old kids did not come up with this on their own. It’s a very complex and detailed scheme, it implies a level of organization and knowledge that I can’t ascribe to developmentally challenged kids. Heck, I can’t ascribe it to most adults. I have a feeling there is another shoe, or two.


18 posted on 04/02/2008 1:12:18 AM PDT by benjamin032
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To: NormsRevenge

There are two key factors in this incident that seem to be on the increase.

One is, and I have noticed this more and more, that today’s children and teens seem to have some enormous difficulty with being criticized or disciplined. I wonder if this is because our society now pampers and extols the virtues of children beyond anything that is healthy.

The other is that the children are so warped that they even think up these things. I never had thoughts like this so much as cross my mind back when I was a child. I was innocent. There is no such thing here anymore; or it is rare indeed.


19 posted on 04/02/2008 10:14:10 AM PDT by Paved Paradise
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To: TheBattman

I’m with you. The Catholic Church, of which I have never been a member, considers the age of accountability to be second grade, which is when children will receive their First Communion.

A second grader knows right from wrong. While they are certainly children, they know what they were doing was wrong, because obviously they could undertand that they were unhappy with being scolded and they were seeking revenge for that - if they can understand all that, they can be held accountable.

They should be expelled and be placed somewhere that they can receive counseling and I would suggest that their homes be investigated as well.


20 posted on 04/02/2008 10:16:38 AM PDT by Paved Paradise
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