>>>>>> May 14, 2007 11:08am
>>>>>> Article from:
NEWS.com.au
>>>>>>
>>>>>> TEACHERS at a Tennessee school who staged a mock attack by a gunman
>>>>>> on
>>>>>> a school trip left children crying under tables in dark room
>>>>>> thinking
>>>>>> they were going to die.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The mock attack last Thursday night was meant to be a "learning
>>>>>> experience and lasted five minutes" during a week-long 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.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On the last night of the trip, the teachers told the 69 students
>>>>>> there
>>>>>> was a gunman on the loose.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> They were told to lie on the floor or hide under tables and stay
>>>>>> quiet. A teacher, disguised in a hooded sweatshirt, even pulled on a
>>>>>> locked door, the Associated Press reported.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> When the lights went out, about 20 children began crying, said
>>>>>> 11-year-
>>>>>> old Shay Naylor.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> "At first I thought I was going to die. We flipped out," she said.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Parents of the children, who were all about 11 years old, were
>>>>>> outraged over the drill- especially as it came in the wake of the
>>>>>> Virginia Tech shooting.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> "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.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> School principal Catherine Stephens said the situation "involved
>>>>>> poor
>>>>>> judgment" but would not say whether the staff would face discipline.
