Two employees suspended over fake attack on students during trip

They used to tell ghost stories around the campfire,

but to scare the kids this year,

school officials convinced children

that an armed attacker was in the area.

The principal, herself a graduate of Virginia Tech, was not amused.

This from CNN:
MURFREESBORO, Tennessee (AP) -- Two school employees who staged a fake gun attack on a group of students during a field trip have been suspended, school officials said Monday.
During the last night of a weeklong trip to a state park, staff members convinced 69 sixth-grade students from Scales Elementary School that there was a gunman on the loose.

The students were told to lie on the floor or hide underneath tables and stay quiet. After the lights went out, some of the children began to cry. A teacher, disguised in a hooded sweat shirt, pulled on locked doors.

Teacher Quentin Masters and assistant principal Don Bartch were suspended for unprofessional conduct and neglect of duty because of the staged attack, schools director Marilyn Mathis said Monday.

VIDEO: (Watch student recount incident, mother react )

Some parents said they were upset by the staff's poor judgment in light of the April 16 shootings at Virginia Tech that left 33 people dead, including the gunman.

Bartch, who was present, has said the scenario was intended as a learning experience and lasted only five minutes.