WAYCROSS, Ga. - A group of third-graders plotted to attack their teacher, bringing a broken steak knife, handcuffs, duct tape and other items for the job and assigning children tasks including covering the windows and cleaning up afterward, police said Tuesday.
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The plot by as many as nine boys and girls at Center Elementary School in south Georgia was a serious threat, Waycross Police Chief Tony Tanner said.

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

The children, ages 8 and 9, were apparently mad at the teacher because she had scolded one of them for standing on a chair, Tanner said. A prosecutor said they are too young to be charged with a crime under <span id="lw_1207100836_0">Georgia</span> law.

School officials alerted police Friday after a pupil tipped off a teacher that a girl had brought a weapon to school, 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.

Nine children have been given discipline up to and including long-term suspension, said Theresa Martin, spokeswoman for the <span id="lw_1207100836_1">Ware County school</span> system. She would not be more specific but said none of the children had been back to school since the case came to light.

The purported target is a veteran educator who teaches <span id="lw_1207100836_2">third-grade students with learning disabilities</span> including attention deficit disorder, delayed development and hyperactivity, friends and parents said.

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

"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 parents of the students have cooperated with investigators, who aren't allowed to question the children without their parents' or guardians' consent, he said. Authorities have withheld the children's names.

Police expected to forward the results of their investigation to prosecutors, Tanner said.

Children in Georgia can't be charged with a crime unless they are at least 13, District Attorney Rick Currie said.

Martin told The <span id="lw_1207100836_3">Florida Times-Union</span> of <span id="lw_1207100836_4">Jacksonville, Fla</span>., that administrators would follow school system policy and state law in disciplining 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."

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," Carter told the <span id="lw_1207100836_5">Times-Union</span>. "The one with the knife could have stabbed my child or someone else's child at lunch or out on the playground."

"This is an isolated incident, an aberration. ... We have good kids," Center Principal Angie Coleman told the newspaper.

About time these kids starting taking a stand versus these sexual predator teachers.

LOL@ standard where is it standard ? not here its not

Wonder which kid got the "cleaning up" duties.

damn, i rem at that age all i coud think about was goin out to park n runnin around playin tag or sum sports or playin vid games.

never would i imagine 3rd graders thinkin like this, its jus crazy.

all i can really say is gg parents for letting them be exposed to such movies n games n music.

obv they cant control them completely, but they def r to blame for allowin them and not constintly explainin to them that those things r wrong.

but who would ever expect this from their 3rd grader??????

its jus fukkd up.

I was thinking the exact same thing hooks... that little bastard who had cleanup duty must've been one hard working retard to clean up a dead teacher... LOL @ 8 year olds management of the crime scene cleanup

^^^^^^^ edit just saw this

All this comes down to is the one ? everyone asks themselves at one point in there lives

How many 3rd grades can you take at one time?

lol this is too funny.

It's at least a little funny most kids are in like the 6th grade before plotting to kill their teacher

Oh and it gets better ..............It was a learning disabilty school They were all special needs kids

I think 3 of them have been charged with something but I'm not sure what

Dude the AVERAGE female human hits puberty at around 11 to 12 years of age and the AVERAGE male human hits puberty at around age 12 to 13 years of age. There are TONS of 12 year old boys who are post-pubescent (i.e. 5'11 200 lbs, deep voice, the works, "men" if you will). That's not really a kid anymore imo. That's a teenager basically. Just because numerically speaking he isn't a teenager yet, medically speaking he is, and is NOT a kid anymore. If this non-kid (as far as I'm concerned) happens to be a psycho and wants to kill a bunch of people, and does (and yes this has happened before, and will continue to happen in the future (not hundreds of people, I was exaggerating, although intheory it would be pretty easily possible for a fully developed 12 year old if he really wanted to, but multiple people yes HAS HAPPENED and will continue to happen).

So I given that my original understanding was you just get let off scott free if you're under 13 in georgia ( I didn't realize they stick you in a mental hopsital, I thought they meant like literally they just don't charge the kid and just let him go free cuz he was too young to know what he was doing or something) I think my WTF???? reaction was at least somewhat valid.

Basically.