The Pennsylvania school district that stocked its classrooms with a bucket of stones last week has announced that they will replace the rocks with armed guards.
Blue Mountain School District put a five-gallon bucket of river stones – which are smooth and used for landscaping – in the closet of every elementary, middle and high school classroom on Friday.
But on Sunday, David Helsel, the superintendent of the district, wrote on Facebook that the district will be putting armed guards in schools in a letter addressed to parents, students and staff.
David Helsel (pictured), the president of the Blue Mountain School District in Pennsylvania, the district that stocked its classrooms with a bucket of stones last week announced on Sunday that they will replace the rocks with armed guards
Helsel wrote on Facebook that the district will be putting armed guards in schools in a letter (pictured) addressed to parents, students and staff
‘As all of you are aware, recently there has been a great deal of media attention brought to Blue Mountain School District.
‘This attention was due to social media posts that took comments out of context and misrepresented our actual planned response to armed intruders (particularly with the planned use of stones),’ the post read.
‘This unfortunate circumstance has increased our concern regarding the possibility that something may happen because of the media attention. Starting tomorrow [Monday] and into the near future, we have arranged for additional armed security for our buildings.
Helsel said the district will continue to reevaluate the situation moving forward.
On Friday, the district stocked every classroom with a bucket of stones so students as young as four could use them to fight off shooters.
Students were encouraged to arm themselves with a stone and get out of the shooter’s line of sight rather crawl under their desks, which the president of the district believes makes them more vulnerable.
Blue Mountain School District (pictured) has 2,700 students and is located 90 miles northwest of Philadelphia
Helsel told ABC News: ‘We’ve been trying to be proactive just in case.
‘We wanted to provide some type of last response to an intruder… rather than crawling under a desk and getting shot.’
Hesel said he still advises teachers evacuate their students if an armed shooter gains access to a school building.
But if the intruder gets near a certain class, they should bolt the door and arm themselves with one of the stones.
These can be used if the shooter gains access, he said, adding: ‘How can you aim a gun if you’re being pelted with rocks?
‘While I don’t like that we need to do this, this response is better than doing nothing.’
Blue Mountain School District has 2,700 students and is located 90 miles northwest of Philadelphia.