Parents,students, and the community in Strawberry Plains, Tennessee, are reeling. PEOPLE reports that administrators at Carter Middle School are under fire after a bomb threatevacuation on September 4 turned into a major health crisis, with 21 students eventually being rushed to Dolly Parton Children’s Hospital.
As the region dealt with an unprecedented heatwave, the National Weather Service recorded a heat index of 100 degrees. This made the decision to hold students on an outdoor football field for an extended period a point of intense controversy. According to the Knox County Sheriff’s Office, the trouble began at 9:56 a.m. when a threatening message was discovered on a bathroom wall. By 10:25 a.m., students were moved to the football field while a K-9 unit conducted a sweep of the school building.
The all-clear wasn’t given until approximately 11:27 a.m., keeping students outside for over an hour. While school officials and the Sheriff’s Office claim students were outside for roughly 50 to 55 minutes and had access to water and shade, the reality described by those on the ground paints a much grimmer picture.
‘Am I going to die?’
Katie Schaefer, a nurse and a parent of two students at the school, arrived on the scene to sign her children out of class. She described a chaotic and terrifying scene where students were collapsing as they tried to traverse the road. Schaefer stepped in to help because there were no medical personnel present to manage the situation.
She recalled the harrowing moment she attended to one student in critical condition, noting that the child’s heart rate had spiked to 243 beats per minute. The impact of the event on the children is clear, as Schaefer shared that she would never forget the face of one child who looked at her and asked, “Am I going to die?”…