A teachers group for an Indiana school district is asking law enforcement there to change how it conducts training exercises after some teachers were injured.
Some teachers at Meadowlawn Elementary School in Monticello received welts, bruises and some bloodied after they were shot "execution style" with rubber bullets during the January training, according to the Indiana State Teachers Association.
The incident came to light this week as the teachers association began lobbying lawmakers to add language prohibiting teachers from being shot with any sort of ammunition to a school safety bill currently under consideration in the Statehouse, according to an article in the Indianapolis Star.
A tweet from the teachers association stated how White County sheriff's deputies injured the educators during the Jan. 4 training.
"During active shooter drill, four teachers at a time were taken into a room, told to crouch down and were shot execution style with some sort of projectiles - resulting in injuries to the extent that welts appeared, and blood was drawn," the tweet states.
The teachers association said teachers were told to stay mum about the incident.
"The teachers were terrified, but were told not to tell anyone what happened. Teachers waiting outside that heard the screaming were brought into the room four at a time and the shooting process was repeated," according to a tweet from the teachers association.
According to the Indianapolis star story, the White County Sheriff's Department said Thursday that they are no longer using rubber bullets during training.
The day of the training, the school posted a "thank you" to the sheriff's department for conducting the training. Only now, people are commenting on it. The post states: "Thankful for the partnership between our school and local law enforcement. Today our staff received training from The White County sheriffs department. Safety is priority at ML!"
Here are some of the comments people posted on the school's "thank you:"
- Is this picture taken before or after they were shot "execution style" Did the school board approve this exercise blindly or did they know tge details of what these teachers were made to endure? Did the school board volunteer themselves for this exercise first before approving it to be done to teachers? - Tiffany Raleigh Francis
- This is NOT ok. You mean to tell me that many "educated" adults made this decision and no one said 'we shouldn't do this'? NO ONE?!?! - Shannon Susol
- Really, Meadowlawn? Did you really have your teachers shot with pellets and told they're responsible for stopping shooters? - Jeremy Anderson