Polish headteacher sacked after organising surprise terror drill that left children needing counselling

A Polish headmistress has been fired after she arranged for a group of camouflaged men brandishing fake weapons to storm her school in a surprise terrorism drill that left children in tears.

The mock attack, which was not advertised to parents, staff or pupils, caused panic throughout the building with children racing for cover and some since requiring trauma therapy.

According to one parent, some older students were even held “hostage” by the pseudo-terrorists, who wore masks and threw stun-grenades inside the school.

Many of the pupils at the institute in the north-eastern town of Barczewo only became aware that the exercise was taking place when they heard men shouting, the sound of running and what some thought was gunfire echoing down the corridors.

One 10-year-old boy was so terrified he leapt from a window in his ground-floor classroom and fled the grounds.

Alicja Sawicka, the dismissed teacher, faces possible criminal charges. 

Local authorities launched an investigation after the incident last month and prosecutors are assessing whether she broke laws protecting the life and wellbeing of her pupils.

“Before the mock attack there had been no talks, no films, no appropriate preparation and no information in the school that a mock attack would be carried out,” said Andrzej Maciejewski, the town’s mayor, in an explanation of why he had sacked Ms Sawicka.

Local authorities have received a stream of complaints since the incident.

“My daughter came back from school crying, and she still doesn’t want to go back there,” said one parent, quoted in Fakt, a Polish newspaper. “She still has trouble sleeping at night.”

Zbigniew Podlaski, a teacher who is now the acting headmaster at the school, said that the exercise “had been too realistic.”

The local authorities said the headmistress had informed them of her intention to hold a drill but added that they were not told about the masked men, weapons and fireworks. They assumed it would be similar to a regular fire drill.