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Pennsylvania school district arms classrooms with buckets of rocks to tackle shooters

Click to play video: 'Pennsylvania school plans to arm students with stones in case of shooting'
Pennsylvania school plans to arm students with stones in case of shooting
WATCH: Pennsylvania school plans to arm students with stones in case of shooting – Mar 23, 2018

A rural school district in Pennsylvania is arming teachers and students with buckets of rocks as a last resort should an armed intruder burst in, the superintendent said Friday.

Every classroom in the district about 145 kilometers northwest of Philadelphia has a 5-gallon bucket of river stones, said Blue Mountain School District Superintendent David Helsel.

“We always strive to find new ways to keep our students safe,” Helsel told The Associated Press in a telephone interview, adding that the rocks are one small part of the district’s overall security plan.

READ MORE: Florida high school tells students to wear clear backpacks after deadly shooting

Throwing rocks is more effective than just crawling under desks and waiting, and it gives students and teachers a chance to defend themselves, he said. The district has about 2,700 students at three elementary schools, a middle school and a high school.

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Staff and students in the Blue Mountain district have been trained in a program called “ALICE” which stands for alert, lockdown, inform, counter and evacuate. Helsel said the rocks are part of the “counter” portion of training, fighting back if the intruder makes his way into the classroom.

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The buckets are kept in classroom closets.

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Click to play video: 'Maryland student left frustrated by shooting : We just had a walkout about gun violence'
Maryland student left frustrated by shooting : We just had a walkout about gun violence

Kenneth Trump, president of the Cleveland-based National School Safety and Security Services, a K-12 security consulting firm, calls the idea illogical and irrational and said it could possibly cost lives.

He said the efforts fill an emotional security need, but don’t actually enhance security.

READ MORE: Teen injured by ex-boyfriend in Maryland school shooting passes away

One high school senior said he supports the plan, adding that throwing rocks is better than throwing books or pencils.

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Parents also have been supportive of the measure, which was implemented in the fall.

“At this point, we have to get creative, we have to protect our kids first and foremost,” parent Dori Bornstein told WNEP-TV. “Throwing rocks, it’s an option.”

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