Elementary School Teaching Children to Throw Books at Classroom Gunmen

A father is outraged after learning that an “active shooter protocol” at his children’s school, Stevenson Elementary in Heath, Ohio, includes encouraging his eight-year-old son to throw books at the gunman.

According to Fox 28, Dean Spencer says his nine-year-old daughter and eight-year-old son “were told by school teachers to throw books at anyone with a gun should they ever make their way into their library or classroom.” Spencer said he did not believe the story at first, but after listening to details from his daughter for a second time, he was simply shocked. He said, “To give them advice or commands to throw things at someone with a gun it’s absurd, it’s insane.”

Heath City School District officials confirmed that “430 third-through-fifth graders at Stevenson are being trained to use the tactic as a last-line of defense if all else fails should the worst case scenario ever happen.” Superintendent Trevor Thomas said, “Our training to staff and students is we need to get them out of that situation. Everything is about student safety.”

Thomas stressed that protocol used by Stevenson Elementary reflects that which “the attorney general’s office [provided] on how to handle an active shooter situation and that every district in Ohio is required to have a plan in place.” And “while the book-tossing plan is in place for Stevenson,” Thomas indicated that “other procedures are being unveiled for middle and high school level students.”

In January, Breitbart News reported that W.F. Middle School principal Princella Holley sent a letter home asking Chambers County, Alabama, parents to provide their children with a can of food that could be stockpiled at the school and thrown at a gunman in the event of an attack. Holley wrote, “We realize at first this may seem odd; however, it is a practice that would catch an intruder off guard.” She contended that “the canned food item could stun the intruder or even knock him out until the police arrive.”

Other school systems around the country have changed their policies to allow teachers with concealed carry permits to be armed to defend themselves and children in case of attack.

Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter:@AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.