US primary school children plotted to kill teacher

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

The nine children, aged 8 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, police chief Tony Tanner said.

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

Their 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,” Mr Tanner said.

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

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

“You can’t dismiss it,” Mr Tanner said. “But 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 or insisted they had decided not to participate.

“Some of the kids said: ’We thought they were just kidding’,” Mr Currie said. “Another child was supposed to bring a toy pistol, and he told a detective he didn’t bring it because he thought he would get in trouble.”

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

“We did not hear anybody say they intended to kill her, but could they have accidentally killed her? Absolutely,” Mr 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.”

Mr 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.