NAACP says, 'Investigate teacher'
by MCL staffwriter

Waycross- I hate to say, "I told you so," but I did in last week's editorial that someone would blame the school and the teacher. At the time, I didn't know that most of the nine in the investigation were black students. In this case, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the mother of one of the children charged with a felony blamed the teacher.

In an article released by Gordon Jackson, of The Times-Union, "they", in this case, the NAACP leaders are calling for an expanded investigation that they believe may reveal the real reason nine Ware County third grade pupils are accused of plotting to harm their teacher.

They denied the children, three of whom have been charged with felonies, were plotting murder, as claimed by investigators.

"This whole case has been blown out of proportion," said the president of the NAACP's Georgia State Conference.

The focus of the investigation should be on the events in the classroom that led to the investigation into the murder plot, the NAACP official said Tuesday during a news conference at a park across from the Ware County Board of Education offices in Waycross.

"These students were crying out for help," he said. "Whether they did it the right way or the wrong way, they got our attention."

The NAACP official said the students' teacher, Belle Carter, should be investigated for the classroom environment she created that led pupils to plot against her. He said the children were planning to throw pies at the teacher and put their heads on their desks to hide who threw the pies. But there was no murder plot, he stated.

Nine children were involved in the plot to harm Carter, investigators said. Carter teaches an early intervention class at Center Elementary School in Waycross to help students who have fallen behind in their class work.

A 9-year-old girl, disciplined earlier for standing on a chair, brought a broken steak knife to school and others brought tape, cheap handcuffs, ribbon, a crystal paperweight and other items they intended to use against their teacher, Waycross Police Chief Tony Tanner said earlier. The 9-year-old, who is believed to have been the mastermind, is charged with aggravated assault for brandishing the knife near another student and with possession of a weapon on school grounds and conspiracy to commit aggravated assault, police said. She is among seven students suspended for the rest of the school year.

Another school official responded to the NAACP claim that if the children meant no harm to the teacher, "Why did they bring knives, tape, handcuffs and a paperweight to class? That in itself is enough to suspend the students."

While police haven't identified the accused 8- 9- and 10-year-old children, The president of the NAACP's Ware County chapter, said most of the children are African-American.

The NAACP official called for the suspended children to return to the classroom but not with the same teacher. Counseling should also be offered to the children and their parents, he said. "We need to meet, identify and correct the problem," he said.

The NAACP official alleged that Carter threw books in the classroom and forced one of her students to her knees to apologize to a classmate after an altercation. "We've got to eliminate this type of abuse," he said.

The director of the Southeast Georgia chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) also said the accused children were not plotting to harm their teacher. "The children were smarter than most people," he said. "They did not resort to violence."

In addition to the accused instigator, two other students face felony charges. A 10-year-old girl whom police said furnished the paperweight intended to harm the teacher is charged with possession of a weapon on school grounds and conspiracy to commit aggravated assault. An 8-year-old boy is charged with conspiracy to commit aggravated assault.

Because of their ages, the police and school officials have not identified any of the children. A juvenile court judge will decide what to do with the three charged criminally, but he said that will not be made public unless the parents or guardians decide to do so on their own.

Another teacher said, "Bless their hearts, they were already having trouble learning. They are old enough to learn that they can't bring weapons to school and plan to harm a teacher for doing the only thing she has left to keep some semblance of order. It is no wonder so many are ending up in jails and prisons. I hope we still have laws against not killing the messenger."