Show And Tell: Homicide

These south Georgia tykes get an "A" for organization and a special field trip to juvie hall:

Nine Ware County third-grade students have been suspended from their Waycross elementary school after being accused of bringing several items to school in order to hurt their teacher.

Waycross Police Chief Tony Tanner on Tuesday released pictures of the evidence, which includes a steak knife, a paperweight, handcuffs, gloves and several rolls of tape.

According to Tanner, the motive for the plot might have been to get revenge on a teacher after she disciplined a girl in her classroom for standing on a chair.

Authorities got word of the alleged plot at Center Elementary School on Friday when another student reported seeing the knife in the possession of another child.

The 8- and 9-year-olds have been accused of being involved in a plan to harm a teacher, but some parents said the plot was much worse. Channel 4 received several e-mails from parents who claimed the students wanted to kill their teacher.

The headline in Monday's Waycross Journal-Herald read murder.

"I have not heard that word used. The principal says they were planning to harm their teacher," said Theresa Martin, of Ware County Schools.

Investigators confirmed the students brought a steak knife, a roll of duct tape, handcuffs, ribbon and a heavy crystal paperweight to school.

Licensed mental health counselor Audrey Dearborn called the allegations against the third-graders alarming.

"Before you would see these types of behavior in high school. Now, we've skipped the middle school and gone right to the third grade," Dearborn said.

Dearborn said a lot of kids view school as an environment where they have to fight to succeed and be treated fairly, but Dearborn said kids need to be taught that the word fight should not be taken literally.

"They have distorted views about how to handle problems in their society," Dearborn said. "They respond the way the cartoon characters do- - they fight with aggression. This is a cry for help. They are saying, 'I am angry. I am hurt and I am striking out. We need to help them."

Tanner said the parents of the children accused are, "Shocked, saddened, and surprised. This is their worst nightmare."

Lucky us, we get more twaddle from of the ubiquitous Audrey Dearborn, the "licensed mental health counselor" (an oozy and ill-defined term) who pops up on Jacksonville news stations like a frontier-gibberish-speaking prairie dog to offer far-fetched conclusions on the topic du jour. For once I wish the media would call a university and ask to speak to a sociologist when doing pieces on societal issues. Saying this is a "cry for help" is inane and uninformative.
Take away the swing sets and playgrounds and exercise yards aren't that much different: they both filled with ringleaders and their sheep. It's interesting that one little pint-sized alpha managed to get eight other little kids ready and set to kill with none breathing a word about the plot.

I had a teacher friend who summed up his classroom observations with "Build more prisons!" I know I had a flexible view of law and morality for most of my school years. I'm glad I never ran into influences this toxic.