Faculty Fakes Gunman Attack On 6th Graders

[dgridley]

These guys should be fired..

A teacher and assistant principal at a Tennessee elementary school staged a fake gun attack on frightened students during a class trip, sparking outrage among parents, according to a report from CNN's Newsroom.

According to school board member Lon Nuell, the prank was poorly timed. "Ghost stories are standard, and you scare the kids out of their wits," said Nuell. "But this was very unfortunate timing, if the timing would ever be good for this sort of thing, this was not it," referring to the Virginia Tech shootings that killed 33 students and professors in April.

According to one student who participated in the trip, Dalton Brown, the assistant principal instructed the students to get under desks and said that they had a "code red" – reserved for when an individual is in possession of a gun, knife, or bomb. The school later issued a press release classifying the events as a "typical campfire prank." According to Brown's mother, the prank crossed the line.

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Faculty_fakes_gunman_attack_on_crying_0514.html

 

[peaches017]

Poor judgment? Yes. But this has been blown up as a result of the VaTech shooting.

At my camp, the counselors pulled a similar prank. We were all sleeping in the lodge and they told us a man was on the campground (mind you we were young and this was in the middle of the night). The counselors went outside to try and "catch" the man, leaving us alone. They then returned and started banging on the sides of the lodge, causing us to become frightened and hide in the middle. Some kids were praying to God. Some kids were crying. Others were pretending to be asleep, hoping the fake man would simply pass them over. For a few hours, no one slept for being overexcited and having the epinephrine flowing through their veins, leaving them too "alive" to sleep. It brought up terrible memories for kids, one of whom's father had been hurt in a home invasion, I remember his tears most vividly.

Guess what, we all got over it. We realized it was a prank, sure we were angry, and the camp apologized. However, it is one of the fondest memories I have of the camp, how we bonded and became better friends throughout the process. If I could have somehow had a choice, I would elect to go through that again.

I'm not trying to condone the actions of the teachers, but take it with a grain of salt. If the media didn't jump all over this story in the wake of the VaTech tragedy, I doubt the response of the parents would have been severe.

Ultimately, these kids are going to get over it. And, having gone through a very similar experience, cannot fathom has it could scar one long-term. Anyways, I'm not sure if my story was effective in any way, just seemed like a good opportunity to tell it.

 

[dgridley]

I've had many a good scare as a kid.. including one my own mom pulled on me when I was 6.. I lived in a 19 room 3-story farmhouse at the time. (To give you an idea of the size, the living room was 80 foot x 40 feet with 3 fireplaces.) Anyway, my sister, who was 14 at the time and I were downstairs watching Twilight Zone and "babysitting" my infant brother who was asleep in his bedroom on the second floor.

Now, the house was big enough, someone could enter by way of the laundry room entrance and there was no possible way anyone in the front could be expected to hear them come in. From the laundry room, you could take the servant's stairs upstairs or to other sections of the house. (There were servant's passageways behind the walls actually so servants could pass thru the house without disturbing the occupants).

Well, my sister told me to go upstairs and check on my brother in his crib. I, being 6, didn't want to walk upstairs by myself. Well, my sister got mad and made me go upstairs to check anyway.

In the meantime, my mom had come in the backway, heard my sister send me upstairs and hid in my brother's darkened room behind the door...

I walk upstairs (a twisting stairway with oak bannisters) and head to my brother's room and my mom sticks her arm out from behind the door and makes a ghostly sound scaring the bejeesus out of me! I literally flew over the railing and down the stairs screaming and crying the entire way..

My sister coming to investigate got mad and dragged me back up the stairs to show me there was no "monster".. my mom hearing this decided to scare her too... same scenario but I bet my sister's feet never hit the stairs as she grabbed me and took off downstairs, my mom laughing behind us! Of course, we left my baby brother upstairs to be eaten.. :D

Did I remember this fondly? No.. I had nightmares for years afterward..

Today, it's a funny story to relate, but it did affect me I can tell you that..

Different things will affect different people in ways you might not expect.. maybe I was just a "big baby" but that house was spooky to me to begin with.. as I said it had 19 main rooms, plus 7 rooms in the basement and another 10 rooms in the attic.. we had 19 acres, a servants' house, a carriage house, well house, etc.

 

[GreenGambler]

I just saw the story run on Headline News. Wow.. That was horrible judgment on behalf of the supervisors. In light of recent events and in light of how many people die each year by gun shots.