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.
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.
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I will not ascribe the likely political persuasion of any of the kids parents.
Nope, I will not do it.
We don’t need no education
We don’t need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom...
Someone, somewhere, is surely wanting to hire these kids on as management.
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?
Can you imagine what might have happened if one of the kids had brought a DRAWING of a gun to school?
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I will check on this one again on 2 April.
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.
Daughter worked with some of these kids and some of them DON’T belong in public school.
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.
Not these particular kids, but some just like them and some get far worse as they get older.
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.
The principal said this???
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.
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.
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.
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