Third-graders questioned on plot to kill teacher

[Guest guest]

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2008/04/01/threat_0401.

html?cxntlid=homepage_tab_newstab

Third-graders questioned on plot to kill teacher, paper reports

Published on: 04/01/08

Police questioned a group of Georgia third-graders suspected in a

plot to kill their teacher at Center Elementary School in Waycross,

apparently because she had scolded one of them for standing on a

chair, a Florida newspaper reported.

charged with a crime under Georgia law, a prosecutor told the Florida

Times-Union. Authorities withheld the students' names because of

their age and student privacy laws, the paper reported.

The newspaper's article said:

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.

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 a veteran educator who teaches third-grade students

with learning disabilities in a contained classroom setting,

colleagues, friends and parents told the newspaper.