MURFREESBORO, Tenn - Two school officials in Murfreesboro, Tenn., were suspended without pay for allegedly jokingly telling students that a shooting had occurred nearby.

The Tennessean newspaper in Nashville reported Tuesday that assistant principal Don Bartch and teacher Quentin Mastin of Scales Elementary were suspended for allegedly pulling the prank on a group of sixth graders during a recent field trip.

The unpaid suspension will last until the end of the school year on June 1.

Yet one student's parent called for a harsher penalty for the officials, who allegedly convinced students that a gunman was loose in Fall Creek Falls State Park during their field trip there.

"I'm glad that they saw fit to take disciplinary action but basically they're getting two weeks of vacation. That's not discipline; that's two weeks off without pay," Brandy Cole, whose son was on the trip, told The Tennessean.

The Tennessean said that school district officials said the prank was simply an attempt to teach students how to react in an emergency situation.

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