>>>>>>> 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.
