>>>>>>>> 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.
