With the safety of its students a top priority, one middle school in Alabama has apparently come up with a plan in case of a dangerous intruder: throw canned goods at them. And yes, they are serious.
“The procedure will be the same as we have done in the past with the addition of arming our students with a canned food item. We realize at first this may seem odd,” the letter sent home to students from W.F. Burns middle school reads, “however, it is a practice that would catch an intruder off-guard. The canned food item could stun the intruder or even knock him out until the police arrive. The canned food item will give students a sense of empowerment to protect themselves and will make them feel secure in case an intruder enters their classroom.”
The letter cites two other examples of instances where localities saw the throwing of canned food as the X-factor in school safety. One example hails from Concord, Massachusetts and the other is from Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Both cite the plan of having children chuck cans of soup at intruders to “stun” them and allow the kids to escape.As far as anyone knows, this ridiculous procedure has never been put into practice in a real-life situation (let's hope and pray it never does).
It’s safe to chalk this “plan” up as one of the most bizarre ways to prepare students and teachers for a dangerous intruder or active shooter situation, should it ever happen. More disturbing, though, is the fact that the school recognizes the importance of empowering people to protect themselves, yet this is their suggestion? It’s preposterous. Why not arm and train faculty and staff? Or bring in armed guards as the NRA advocated long ago?
With this plan, I’m afraid the students and teachers are nothing more than sitting ducks…with a can of corn.
