3rd-Graders Accused Of Plot To Hurt Teacher

[Mugu]

News4Jax.com

WAYCROSS, Ga. -- As many as nine third-grade students got together and plotted to harm their teacher, even going so far as to bring handcuffs and a knife to school, Waycross police said.

School officials at Center Elementary School, which is located on Dorothy Street in Waycross, said they never imagined that some of the 8- and 9-year-olds boys and girls at the school would think of bringing physical harm to a teacher.

"A plan had been developed amongst several of our third-grade students to allegedly do harm to their teacher," said Theresa Martin, of Ware County Schools.

Martin said the plot was uncovered when one student saw a knife in the backpack of another student.


Complete article at:
http://www.news4jax.com/news/15755299/detail.html

[Frosty1]

1. It makes me wonder what that teacher was doing

to warrant that kind of anger from those children?

[CatWoman]

2. it makes ME wonder

what the fuck is wrong with those kids?

[LostinVA]

31. Tell me about it

[Dorian Gray]

39. Yeah,

me too!

[my2sense]

3. Probably trying to teach

and possibly trying to bring order to her class. :eyes:

[KG]

4. i'm wondering what they're learning at home

for the little buggers to think violence is the way to solve a conflict.

[Fumesucker]

7. Maybe they are watching the way our government goes about

"Solving conflicts"?

[Echo In Light]

21. Here:

[ulysses]

13. you make the assumption that it was warranted.

Sometimes, we call that "blaming the victim".

[angstlessk]

43. the person said warrant the ANGER...not the actions...the teacher

could have been a pedophile (not likely)... but the question was...why the ANGER...

[ulysses]

47. yes, I know.

My students get angry with me when I make them find the least common denominator. I find that unwarranted. :)

[DesertRat]

15. see reply #14

[proud2BlibKansan]

26. Makes me wonder where their parents are

and why they allow their children to use violence to solve problems.

[Ishoutandscream2]

28. Wow! Only at DU

Sorry, but what an outrageous statement.

[angstlessk]

44. I agree .. when we live in our 'bubble' and see only 'our' kids we wonder what an outsider

could do to warrant such anger in children 10 years old. Why you were attacked for that question makes me wonder ... why are DU'ers so ANGRY?

[Fireweed247]

5. It just gets worse, the kids are getting younger

There is something terribly wrong with this country.

[CatWoman]

6. you couldn't pay me a million dollars

to be a teacher.

not in this day and time.

[Bobbieo]

8. What has happened to the adoration my kids to to heap upon their teachers?>

[proud2BlibKansan]

40. Their parents hate us now so the kids hate us too

It's all part of the PR campaign to demonize schools and teachers. It's been quite successful.

[Mugu]

9. Found more at Yahoo.

By RUSS BYNUM, Associated Press Writer

WAYCROSS, Ga. - A group of third-graders plotted to attack their teacher, bringing a broken steak knife, handcuffs, duct tape and other items for the job and assigning children tasks including covering the windows and cleaning up afterward, police said Tuesday.
ADVERTISEMENT

The plot by as many as nine boys and girls at Center Elementary School in south Georgia was a serious threat, Waycross Police Chief Tony Tanner said.

"We did not hear anybody say they intended to kill her, but could they have accidentally killed her? Absolutely," Tanner said. "We feel like if they weren't interrupted, there would have been an attempt. Would they have been successful? We don't know."

The children, ages 8 and 9, were apparently mad at the teacher because she had scolded one of them for standing on a chair, Tanner said. A prosecutor said they are too young to be charged with a crime under Georgia law.


Complete article at:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080401/ap_on_re_us/children_s_plot;_ylt=Ar3Pp_ZGsSMj9J5ECr7275Os0NUE

[Toasterlad]

10. Let's Give Them a Time Out. That Will Surely Teach Them.

Stupid permissive parents in this country.

[knitter4democracy]

11. Considering the age level, it sounds like fantasy that's gotten out of hand.

Kids at that age still have a lot of fantasy-based thinking. They got upset at their teacher and started fantasizing about how to even the score, how to get her back, how to take power back in the situation. Then, it got out of hand, which can happen. Yes, they need to be taught that they crossed the line, but I think putting them in juvvy would be overreacting. Better still to get all the kids together to come up with a plan on how to make up for what they did do and what they were thinking of doing.

My second grade daughter thinks she's in a band with her school friends. Everyone brings things to school to make the instruments and pretend that they're in a rock band. They have entire stories woven around this whole thing, and none of it's real (none of the kids even play the instruments they say they do).

[havocmom]

16. The blur between reality and fantasy is one our society encourages

A young mother, daughter of a dear friend, just sent me link to pics of their family vacation to Disney World.

He son is 8, her daughter is about 3. There were a couple dozen pics of the young girl with various 'characters', people dressed in costumes, playing the roles of fairy tale characters. The child was clearly alarmed from the look on her face in every picture.

The 'characters' come to life were clearly playing roles to the hilt and the little girl was obviously troubled. Think about it: these were just pretend people in stories mom and dad read each night. NOW, the child is confronted with these people as flesh and blood.

The pictures made me sob. I realized how so many kids are having their natural intellect sabotaged by the weirdness of our less than healthy society. How can kids learn what is OK and not OK when we go to such expense and trouble to make fantasy real. We are sowing the seeds of mental illness.

[knitter4democracy]

17. I was always freaked out by Disney people, too.

I knew it was just a person in there, but that was pretty freaky. Very weird. I don't know any kids who aren't at least a little freaked out by that. I know my kids hate that stuff, even Santa at the mall.

[havocmom]

19. Kids should be teaching us sometimes.

;)

Keep fantasy as fantasy; don't try to make everything come to life. That way lies madness!

[DemBones DemBones]

23. Kids pretending they are in a band is a lot different from kids plotting to

hurt their teacher. They took a knife and handcuffs to school and might have done real harm, even killed her, if another child hadn't seen the knife in a backpack.

I could tell you much worse stories about some of the things that go on in high schools, of course.

Kids are not being taught boundaries, manners, concern for others at home and it's difficult straightening them out when they're 6 or 7 years old, more difficukt the older they are. In this state, many kids start school a year late because the parents want their sons to be older and bigger when they play high school sports.
Girls are held back, too, though why I don't know.

[Fleshdancer]

24. I agree...

It blows my mind that others think I'm too strict of a parent because my child is not allowed to talk back or have her way all the time. I'm not her friend, I'm not her buddy, I'm her mom. It's my job to prepare her for the adult world where her actions have consequences. Anything less is lazy parenting.

[Ishoutandscream2]

30. You're an excellent parent. Keep up the good work

And please feel free to enroll your child in my school. I would love to work with a parent like you.

[knitter4democracy]

34. It is lazy parenting, but I try not to judge.

I'm a stay-at-home mom, and I have a husband who works and supports us, so I hate to judge anyone else. If a single mom's working two jobs or even three, it's darn difficult to parent properly. Parenting takes time--lots and lots of time. Not everyone has that.

[Fleshdancer]

42. The way I see it....

The lazy parent, in my opinion, is the person who gives in to the child's every wish, who dismisses their bad behavior, and who doesn't give the child a realistic expectation for what life will be like when the child is grown. It has nothing to do with how many jobs the parent works or what their level of support is from the other spouse or other family members. It's about the message you send to your child when you are together.

[knitter4democracy]

46. That makes more sense.

I know some parents like that, and their kids are pretty unhappy.

[knitter4democracy]

33. I used to teach high school. I know what goes on there.

I do think they were planning on hurting the teacher, but I question whether they would've acted on it. Actually doing it is a huge step, a very different one from talking about it and even bringing stuff to school to show your friends.

I taught with a friend whose husband was physically attacked every year where he taught, which was a fabulous arts magnet school. The girls school we were in didn't have anywhere near the problems, though the kids tried to get me fired more than once, and it was a huge step up from the places I trained at in college. I had a kid throw a desk at me, I was offered drugs by several students (who apparently were stupid enough to think I wouldn't turn them in), and I was sexually harrassed by students and a principal. So, yeah, I'm pretty aware of what happens in the classroom. I also once had a kid draw a picture of him killing me over and over again. I shrugged and said he should get some more color into the picture (only black and red, lots of red) and handed him some crayons. He never bothered me again after that.

On starting late, that's the latest educational fad. The kindergarten curriculum is so massive these days, thanks to NCLB and all the testing, that many (most in some schools) can't do it in one year. So, more and more kids are doing a pre-kindergarten year and then kindergarten or two years of kindergarten. I had a pre-school teacher pressure me to do that with our son, and I fought her and won. He's bored now in kindergarten, and his teacher and I agreed this week that he'll go straight on to first grade in the fall. I hate this fad--it's completely stupid to hold kids back or to stress them out over kindergarten so much that they need another year for it.

[ulysses]

12. yeah, I can see it.

I have several fifth graders this year who are evidently under the impression that any correction I give them is cause to threaten to call Daddy on me. They don't get this idea from me.

[proud2BlibKansan]

27. Just today a first grader told me he didn't do his Reading homework

because his mom said that his book was old and I should give him a new one.

They get a book a week. We read it in class and they read it at home for homework. They get to keep the book. But this mom wants a new one in the middle of the week.

I told him to tell his mom to take him to the library or a bookstore if she wants him to have a new book. He said she will be mad if I tell her that. I said tell her to call me :evilgrin:

[DemBones DemBones]

29. That's great! Some parents are

unbelievable about their little darlings and their rights.

They're getting free books and mom's complaining?

[knitter4democracy]

35. Oh, for the love of Mike. That's crazy.

I wonder what his mom really said, though. First graders say the darndest things sometimes.

[proud2BlibKansan]

37. This mom is hostile and crazy

So I suspect she actually did say this.

[knitter4democracy]

38. Darn. I was hoping the kid was just playing with you.

I taught some kids with hostile and crazy parents. One mom was the worst I ever had to deal with, and it got to the point that the principal put out a memo to all of us that she'd put an announcement over the PA for us to do lockdown if that woman was sighted in the school so she could only talk with the principal. Her son totally took advantage of how crazy his mom was, and I noticed that he only lasted a year on his college football team. Gee, I wonder why. :eyes:

[DesertRat]

14. Here's the reason according to another news report

"The children, ages 8 and 9, were apparently mad at the teacher because she had scolded one of them for standing on a chair, Tanner said."
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2008/04/01/threat_0401.html?cxntlid=homepage_tab_newstab

[devilgrrl]

18. Hey Mugu? Do post anything else but crap from the newswire?

:popcorn:

[Fleshdancer]

20. My heart goes out to the teacher

I see the teachers at my daughter's elementary school and I'm constantly amazed at how passionate and proud they are of their students. Could you imagine spending almost an entire school year getting to know and teach these kids to find out that nine of them plotted to cause you physical harm? $10 says this teacher is blaming her/himself and that sucks.

If I were a parent of one of these kids, I would be furious and scared. It's hard to accurately know how I would react, but I suspect the aftermath would include therapy, a grounding with no end in sight, a very generous donation to Goodwill, a long letter of apology to the teacher, the school, the police, and the innocent classmates, a hard look at my parenting skills up to that point, and a meeting with the parents of the other kids involved.

[Flying Dream Blues]

32. Your reaction to this scenario guarantees you will never find yourself in this position!

Wish there were more like you (and I'd like to think, me.)
:hi:

[treestar]

22. I know a high school teacher who had a couple of students

Who made veiled threats that they were going to vandalize her car.

The problem is the teachers can't do much about it, or they are the ones who get into trouble.

[DemBones DemBones]

25. If you get real threats, the administrators won't do much.

It's an insane system. They don't want to suspend or expel kids because "then they won't be in class learning," never mind that kids who need to be suspended or expelled are not there to learn, anyway, just to socialize and disrupt classes.

It's a farce that ISS lets them "keep up with their studies," they are just given assignments to read and answer questions from the text. Nobody is explaining the material to them and the text I had to use was above the reading level of most of the students so there's little chance they'll have learned anything while in ISS.

Why was the text above the students' reading level? Probably because the superintendent thought it made the system look better to use a difficult text. I moved on to teaching college and the introductory text was actually easier to read than the one my high school students had used.

[knitter4democracy]

36. That happened to my mom once.

She's a retired high school art teacher, and she had some kids key her car once. I had students do their level best to get me fired a couple of times when I taught (they told me later that it was because I graded hard and gave a lot of homework). Kids do the darndest stuff these days.

[JanMichael]

41. Kid Nation!

I knew brats were up watching that stupid show.

[KillCapitalism]

45. They need to nip the problem in the bud here.

Lock these little hoodlums up and throw away the key!