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'Throw them very hard:' Pennsylvania school district is arming its teachers with stones

Posted at 7:10 AM, Mar 27, 2018
and last updated 2018-03-27 10:38:04-04

One superintendent is making headlines for arming his classrooms, with a bucket of stones.

The Pennsylvania superintendent says under current laws, this was the best he could come up with -- Filling up a five-gallon bucket with rocks.

"If an armed intruder attempts to gain entrance into any of our classrooms, they will face a classroom full of students armed with rocks, and they will be stoned," said David Helsel.

This idea of how to protect his students in the event of an active shooter situation has received praise and ridicule.

"You can throw them very hard and they will cause pain, which can distract," said Helsel.

Scripps station WTMJ in Milwaukee shared the idea to an advisor of an independent charter school in the Menomonee Valley, who laughed.

Joey Zocher is in charge of more than 100 students at Escuela Verde. The advisor believes the culture of our school should serve as a barometer of our current society. Teachers understanding what students go through is how she believes her students will succeed.

"They come in with high trauma from their home lives and the neighborhoods they live in and often not due to anything to create this trauma," said Zocher.

She is also letting them organize demonstrations, which she calls a civics lesson.

"We can recognize our youth are unhappy, we just saw them march in droves," Zocher said.

"March For Our Lives" posters made by her students are propped up at the school's entrance. Those posters will remain there when the students return from spring break.