Teachers Stage Mock Gun Attack on Sixth Graders, Spark Outrage Among Parents

They said they intended this as a learning experience for their students. But a mock gun attack staged against elementary school students on a sixth grade class trip has sparked feelings of outrage from many parents.

Students from Scales Elementary School in Murfreesboro, Tennessee were on weeklong trip to a state park when the attack was staged. Assistant Principal Don Bartch, who led the trip, said the students and teachers had had a discussion about what they would do in a real-life situation. But parents said they were upset by the poor judgment shown by the teachers in the aftermath of the Virginia Tech shootings of April 16 left 33 students and faculty members dead including the gunman.

The "attack," which occurred on the last night of the trip, lasted about five minutes. The sixty-nine students, told by teachers that the attack was not a drill, had been convinced that a gunman was on the loose. The "gunman" was a teacher in a hooded sweatshirt. The teacher had walked around the building, knocking on windows and even pulled on a lock door. The staff members told the students to stay quiet and take cover.

Brandy Cole, whose son was on the trip, said "The children were in that room in the dark, begging for their lives, because they thought there was someone with a gun after them. According to 11 year-old student Shay Naylor, about twenty students began to cry after the lights went out. "At first, I thought I was going to die," Naylor said. "We all flipped out.

Scales Elementary Principal Catherine Stephens won't say whether the staffers involved would face any disciplinary action, but she did say that the "the circumstance that occurred involved poor judgment. My hope is that we can learn from this, and in the end, it will have a positive result of growth for all of us."