Another indication of how absolutely horrific our public school system is today. Everyone at this Tennessee school involved in this should be fired immediately.
Scary tale may have haunting repercussions for teachers
Accounts of the story varied from parent to parent, but according to Assistant Principal Don Bartch, students were gathered into a common area, a large, glassed-in room with double doors, to begin the story. Students were told that park rangers had contacted them, explaining that armed subjects were in the area.
Students were advised to get under tables for protection if these subjects approached the area. Then the lights were turned off, and the door was closed.
Some parents believed the doors to be locked, but Bartch stated this was “absolutely not true. The entire room is glass,” he said. “There was lighting outside, so students had a good view of what was going on.”
A teacher wearing a hooded sweatshirt pulled on a locked double door, pretending to be a suspicious subject in the area…”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.
“(The field trip) is a good program, and a good experience, with the hiking and nature,” said Alisha Graves, whose son attended. “This was not a good experience. “Those kids were crying, and they were terrified,” she said.
The adults in charge of this mess are nothing less than sadists. In addition to being fired, criminal charges should be considered. If you did this to your own child, and social services heard about it, your child would be taken from you and you would face child abuse charges.
There is something seriously wrong with these people. The thing that gets me the most is that it wasn’t one teacher being stupid….a collective group of educated people agreed to do this to young children. How does this idea even get brought to the table?
I have read through the entire article and am just stunned that faculty involved – and even some parents – have referred to this as nothing more than a prank or merely a ‘bad joke’. Let’s see, how many school shootings have taken place this year alone? And we have teachers (apparently some parents) who can find something in these horrific acts to joke about or generate pranks?
Wow – maybe at my school we can re-create a recent neighborhood drive-by in which one of our students was killed. Wouldn’t that be a great end-of-school-year joke to play while my students are at the bus stop?
Many schools have policies whereby a student can face suspension or expulsion by talking about guns or drawing a picture of one. In some cases, criminal charges are filed. Why should teachers herding kids into a room pretending there’s a gunman, leaving these young people crying and begging for their lives be excused? Talk about putting kids at risk.
Hey, I’d like to see the teachers and adminstrative staff involved fired, their certification taken away and criminal charges brought up. People that stupid, twisted and irresponsible have no business around kids.
The article is not clear about Fall Creek Falls’ involvement in the stunt, so I am investigating that today. I own property 6 miles from the park, and I’ve half-lived in and financially supported them for years. I take my friends there; my nieces and I are there all summer long, also doing the nature activities, etc. Trust me, if FCF took ANY part in this at all, or permitted it in advance, I will be raising serious hell up there!
I am absolutely horrified by the stupidity of this in a time where our kids are growing up with little sense of security anywhere! I always refer to my place up there as The Hideout, truly my central refuge and source of restoration. And FCF is a huge, beautiful park, overflowing with every facet of nature you could cram into one area. But now these kids have been robbed of even THIS opportunity for peace and a rare healthy form of escape. And we wonder why our kids are stressed, neurotic, some eventually psychotic, popping anti-depressants like candy??
Every single person in that school AND the park who had any foreknowledge of this whatsoever should be fired without hesitation. And yes, Tammy, every parent who knew about it should be met by DFACS standing at their door. J
And they probably banned dodge ball.
The teachers in question most likely have tenure and nothing more than a transfer will result. While the teachers and staff directly involved definitely need to be terminated permanently, the administration that allowed an atmosphere that would breed such imbecilic behavior should be terminated as well.
I must agree with most here. Also the principal who seems rather nonchalant about the matter also needs a ‘re-assignment’ to somewhere critical thinking is not involved. Yeah, they probaly have banned dodge ball and all types of activities where excelling is rewarded.
At this point, the TN Dept of Environment and Conservation hasn’t released any official statement, and no article so far has referred to any role by FCF. But I have sent emails to the Dept and to the State Park Central office to see if they have any comment.
In the meantime, the school system has released its official response, which contains some significant differences in parts of the story. Which in all fairness is not unexpected, b/c of the degree of emotions from all sides, the press’ usual hunt for drama, etc. Here is a link to it:
http://www.fairviewobserver.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070514/NEWS04/705140375
Also, the asst principal and main teacher have been suspended, thankfully without pay. (link below) I’m sure most of you have heard most of this by now, but thought I’d post these links if you want details. I’ll follow up if I learn anything significant from the Parks. J
http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=3172197&page=1&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312
I received an email response from Dana Coleman, Communications Director for the State Parks Dept, which reads in part: “… Let me assure that the employees of Tennessee State Parks had no prior knowledge or involvement in this incident. As I’m sure you understand, our parks, inns and campgrounds are used by all sorts of groups and individuals, and we always hope park visitors will use good judgement during their stay with us and do all we can to stress park safety…” She referred to is as an “unfortunate incident, which just happened to occur by a group staying in one of our camps…”
I also spoke with Scott Broden, the reporter from The Daily News Journal in Murfreesboro. He said the teachers’ statement to the students that a park official had issued the warning was not true, and there are no allegations that FCF was knowledgable about any of this at the time.
So that’s just another brainless, cruel piece of this pathetic story. The update on the teachers’ suspension is that this is the only action the school system intends to take. Of course, who knows if an outraged parent will seek additional means of punishment.
How is this any different than a fake bomb threat called into the school? Or yelling “fire” at a movie theater? There are criminal repercusions for those acts. Anything related to guns/gunmen/safety threats are out-of-bounds, anymore — there was nothing “prank” about this. J