Pennsylvania 4th-grader Arrested For Trying To Poison Teacher
The Associated Press
via Knight Ridder


A fourth-grader at Benjamin Franklin Elementary has been arrested for allegedly trying to poison her teacher, police and school officials said yesterday.

The 10-year-old allegedly poured fingernail polish, nail-polish remover and hand lotion into her teacher's coffee mug during class Thursday, said school district spokesman Joe Lyons.

The teacher, a 54-year-old woman did not drink from the mug, Lyons said.

Authorities yesterday withheld the names of the teacher and the girl.

The teacher learned of the tampering from the parent of another student during an evening function at the school, Rising Sun Avenue near Cheltenham.

Because schools were closed Friday due to snow, an investigation began on Monday, and the girl was arrested after a police-lab test detected poison in the mug.

The girl has been charged with aggravated assault, possession of an instrument of crime, simple assault and reckless endangerment of another person, said police spokesman Inspector William Colarulo.

"It appears she did not like her teacher," he said. "That's all we can surmise right now."

The girl has a hearing in Family Court on Dec. 27. School officials said she has been suspended for five days and that a recommendation will be made to expel her to an alternative school. She is no longer in police custody.

"This is something we hear about throughout the country, students putting substances in teachers' food products," Colarulo said. "No matter what their motivation is, this is not a harmless prank. The Philadelphia Police Department has zero tolerance on this type of behavior."

In 2003, a 13-year-old boy was convicted of attempted murder and aggravated assault for pouring a toxic cleaning fluid into his teacher's juice at Grover Washington Jr. Middle School, in Olney. The teacher was briefly hospitalized after drinking from the cup. A Family Court judge gave the boy probation and ordered that he undergo counseling.

Philadelphia Daily News

My mom teaches fourth grade here in Salt Lake City. She's had a knife pulled on her three times, a gun once, and she has been assaulted twice. So this doesn't surprise me.

And we dont want to handcuff out of control kids, and god forbid we spank one.... Its the fucking parents....

Time out mat, naughty chair my ass....

That's grounds for expulsion from the school district.