District stops training teachers, pupils to attack armed intruders

BURLESON, Texas (AP) -- A suburban Fort Worth school district that has been teaching pupils to attack a gunman if he invades a classroom said Wednesday that it has halted the program.
The district will continue to train pupils in how to respond to life-threatening situations but will no longer show them how to take down an attacker, spokesman Richard Crummel said.
"That was not something we believe in and not something we supported," Crummel said. "It wasn't brought to our attention until they had already done the training."
Teachers in all 11 schools in the district in Burleson, a working-class suburb with about 26,000 residents, have received the fight-back training over the past 18 months along with pupils at one elementary school and the high school.
Robin Browne, an instructor for the security company that provided the training, had recommended that pupils and teachers "react immediately to the sight of a gun by picking up anything and everything and throwing it at the head and body of the attacker and making as much noise as possible. Go toward him as fast as we can and bring them down."
The district sent letters to parents Friday expressing regret for the training and saying the district "does not, nor will we support teaching our students to attack an intruder."
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