This is about 50 miles from where I live. My kid is in 3rd grade but I can't see her having the thought of killing anyone. ELEVEN students in total... This is beyond me... These kids are in Special Education classes.. JESUS. more links below:
Third-graders-- Police questioned a group of 8- and 9-year-olds at an elementary school in Waycross. WEAPONS: A broken steak knife, handcuffs, duct tape and a paperweight were seized.
WAYCROSS, Ga. - Police questioned a group of third-graders suspected in a plot to kill their teacher at Center Elementary School on Monday, apparently because she had scolded one of them for standing on a chair.
School officials rounded up the students Friday morning and alerted police after another pupil tipped off a teacher that a girl, the suspected mastermind, had brought a weapon to school, Police Chief Tony Tanner said.
Police seized a broken steak knife, handcuffs, duct tape, electrical and transparent tape, ribbons and a crystal paperweight from the students, who apparently intended to use them against the teacher, Tanner said.
"We estimate between six to nine students were involved. ... We're not sure at this point in the investigation how many of the students actually knew the intent was to hurt the teacher," Tanner said.
The plot was a serious threat, he said.
"They definitely took steps toward the goal of hurting the teacher, but whether they would have carried through on it had there not been intervention, we can't say for sure," Tanner said.
The parents of the students have cooperated with investigators who, by law, can't question the children without their parents' or guardians' consents, he said.
The target was Belle Carter, a veteran educator who teaches third-grade students with learning disabilities in a contained classroom setting, colleagues, friends and parents said. Teachers and parents at the school said Carter taught students with a range of learning disabilities, including attention deficit disorder, delayed development and hyperactivity.
All of the children under suspicion are students in her class, they said.
Carter was at work Monday and didn't immediately respond to a Times-Union request for an interview, which was relayed to her by Theresa Martin, spokeswoman for the Ware County school system.
Carter, widely respected for her teaching and dedication to students, is scheduled to retire at the end of the school year.
The preliminary investigation showed a desire for revenge may have been the motive for the plot, Tanner said. Apparently the teacher had chastised the female student about standing on a chair, he said.
The plot apparently began taking shape last week, and the students may have begun bringing the items to school Thursday, he said.
It's unknown where the students got the idea, Tanner said.
Citing privacy laws, school administrators released no information about any prior disciplinary problems involving the students.
"From what I understand, they were considered pretty good kids," Martin said. "But we have to take this seriously, whether they were serious or not about carrying this through, and that's what we did."
Police hoped to complete their investigation Monday afternoon and will forward the results to prosecutors, Tanner said. But prosecutors' hands may be tied in the case because children in Georgia can't be charged with a crime unless they are at least 13, District Attorney Rick Currie said.
A juvenile court judge can declare those younger than 13 delinquent, but Georgia has no detention facilities for anyone as young as the third-graders, Currie said.
Martin said administrators would follow school system policy and state law in disciplining the students.
Four mothers of other third-grade students at Center Elementary called for the immediate expulsion of the suspected plotters.
Stacy Carter and Deana Hiott both cited school system policy stating that any student who brings "anything reasonably considered to be a weapon" is to be expelled for at least the remainder of the school year.
"We don't want our children around them," said Carter, who learned about the incident from a teacher at the school Friday night. "The one with the knife could have stabbed my child or someone else's child at lunch or out on the playground."
Belle Carter and Stacy Carter are not related.
The suspects shouldn't receive leniency because they have a learning disability, Hiott said.
"These kids, if they come back to school, what have they learned? That they can plan to kill their teacher and get away with it. That's not right," Hiott said.
The women said they took their children to school Monday only after their teacher promised to keep her classroom door locked and keep them safe.
The four also demanded that county schools Superintendent Joseph Barrow explain why parents weren't notified until Sunday night, when they received a brief automated message from the school's principal.
Barrow was attending a meeting Monday in Atlanta. Martin met individually with the mothers.
Police were alerted Friday morning "without any undue delay," Tanner said.
With 500 students and 80 staff members, Center Elementary School is recognized as a Distinguished School by the Georgia Department of Education because its students have met annual academic achievement standards for the past six consecutive years.
Violence is rare, and the plot is the first of its kind at any Ware County school, according to law enforcement officials and school system records.
A steady stream of parents dropped off their children for classes Monday morning.
"This is an isolated incident, an aberration. ... We have good kids," said Center Principal Angie Coleman who, like police officials and school system administrators, struggled Monday to make sense of the incident.
Coleman said counselors were present should the students and staff need them.
"This incident surprised me. It surprised all of us," Tanner said.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q...o+kill+teacher
Third-graders-- Police questioned a group of 8- and 9-year-olds at an elementary school in Waycross. WEAPONS: A broken steak knife, handcuffs, duct tape and a paperweight were seized.
WAYCROSS, Ga. - Police questioned a group of third-graders suspected in a plot to kill their teacher at Center Elementary School on Monday, apparently because she had scolded one of them for standing on a chair.
School officials rounded up the students Friday morning and alerted police after another pupil tipped off a teacher that a girl, the suspected mastermind, had brought a weapon to school, Police Chief Tony Tanner said.
Police seized a broken steak knife, handcuffs, duct tape, electrical and transparent tape, ribbons and a crystal paperweight from the students, who apparently intended to use them against the teacher, Tanner said.
"We estimate between six to nine students were involved. ... We're not sure at this point in the investigation how many of the students actually knew the intent was to hurt the teacher," Tanner said.
The plot was a serious threat, he said.
"They definitely took steps toward the goal of hurting the teacher, but whether they would have carried through on it had there not been intervention, we can't say for sure," Tanner said.
The parents of the students have cooperated with investigators who, by law, can't question the children without their parents' or guardians' consents, he said.
The target was Belle Carter, a veteran educator who teaches third-grade students with learning disabilities in a contained classroom setting, colleagues, friends and parents said. Teachers and parents at the school said Carter taught students with a range of learning disabilities, including attention deficit disorder, delayed development and hyperactivity.
All of the children under suspicion are students in her class, they said.
Carter was at work Monday and didn't immediately respond to a Times-Union request for an interview, which was relayed to her by Theresa Martin, spokeswoman for the Ware County school system.
Carter, widely respected for her teaching and dedication to students, is scheduled to retire at the end of the school year.
The preliminary investigation showed a desire for revenge may have been the motive for the plot, Tanner said. Apparently the teacher had chastised the female student about standing on a chair, he said.
The plot apparently began taking shape last week, and the students may have begun bringing the items to school Thursday, he said.
It's unknown where the students got the idea, Tanner said.
Citing privacy laws, school administrators released no information about any prior disciplinary problems involving the students.
"From what I understand, they were considered pretty good kids," Martin said. "But we have to take this seriously, whether they were serious or not about carrying this through, and that's what we did."
Police hoped to complete their investigation Monday afternoon and will forward the results to prosecutors, Tanner said. But prosecutors' hands may be tied in the case because children in Georgia can't be charged with a crime unless they are at least 13, District Attorney Rick Currie said.
A juvenile court judge can declare those younger than 13 delinquent, but Georgia has no detention facilities for anyone as young as the third-graders, Currie said.
Martin said administrators would follow school system policy and state law in disciplining the students.
Four mothers of other third-grade students at Center Elementary called for the immediate expulsion of the suspected plotters.
Stacy Carter and Deana Hiott both cited school system policy stating that any student who brings "anything reasonably considered to be a weapon" is to be expelled for at least the remainder of the school year.
"We don't want our children around them," said Carter, who learned about the incident from a teacher at the school Friday night. "The one with the knife could have stabbed my child or someone else's child at lunch or out on the playground."
Belle Carter and Stacy Carter are not related.
The suspects shouldn't receive leniency because they have a learning disability, Hiott said.
"These kids, if they come back to school, what have they learned? That they can plan to kill their teacher and get away with it. That's not right," Hiott said.
The women said they took their children to school Monday only after their teacher promised to keep her classroom door locked and keep them safe.
The four also demanded that county schools Superintendent Joseph Barrow explain why parents weren't notified until Sunday night, when they received a brief automated message from the school's principal.
Barrow was attending a meeting Monday in Atlanta. Martin met individually with the mothers.
Police were alerted Friday morning "without any undue delay," Tanner said.
With 500 students and 80 staff members, Center Elementary School is recognized as a Distinguished School by the Georgia Department of Education because its students have met annual academic achievement standards for the past six consecutive years.
Violence is rare, and the plot is the first of its kind at any Ware County school, according to law enforcement officials and school system records.
A steady stream of parents dropped off their children for classes Monday morning.
"This is an isolated incident, an aberration. ... We have good kids," said Center Principal Angie Coleman who, like police officials and school system administrators, struggled Monday to make sense of the incident.
Coleman said counselors were present should the students and staff need them.
"This incident surprised me. It surprised all of us," Tanner said.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q...o+kill+teacher
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