Schoolchildren plot to murder their teacher

A GROUP of American primary school children made detailed plans to murder their teacher after she told one of them off.

The nine children, aged eight to 10, apparently intended to knock her unconscious with a glass paperweight, bind her with handcuffs and duct tape and then stab her with a broken steak knife.

The third-graders at Center Elementary School in Waycross, south Georgia, were angry because she had scolded one of them for standing on a chair, said police chief Tony Tanner.

The scheme involved a division of roles, Tanner said. One child’s job was to cover the windows so no one could see in from the outside, and another was supposed to clean up after the attack.

Their intended target teaches third-grade students with learning disabilities, including attention deficit disorder, delayed development and hyperactivity.

“We’re not sure at this point in the investigation how many of the students actually knew the intent was to hurt the teacher,” said Tanner.

School officials had alerted police last week after a pupil tipped off a teacher that a girl had taken a weapon to school.

Tanner said the teacher told detectives the children were not known as troublemakers.

“You can’t dismiss it,” Tanner said. “Because they are kids, they may have thought this was like a cartoon — we do whatever and then she stands up and she’s OK. That’s a hard call.”

Two of the students were arrested on juvenile charges and a third arrest was expected. District Attorney Rick Currie said other students told investigators they did not take the plot seriously.

Currie said the children are too young to be charged as adults, and are also probably too young to be sentenced to a youth detention centre.

Currie said he decided to seek juvenile charges against two girls, aged nine and 10, who brought the knife and paperweight and an eight-year-old boy who brought tape. He said they face charges of conspiracy to commit aggravated assault, and both girls are being charged with taking weapons to school.

Nine children have been given discipline up to and including long-term suspension, said a school spokeswoman.