ANCHORAGE, Alaska – An Alaska charter school suspended three first-grade girls for plotting to kill a classmate with “poison.”

Anchorage police told KTUU three first-graders at Winterberry Charter School planned to poison a classmate with a silica gel packet they believed to be toxic in hopes of killing the young girl.

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“Three students in the class were planning on using the silica gel packets (these are not actually poison, but the students believed they were) from their lunchtime seaweed to poison and kill another student,” Winterberry Principal Shanna Mall wrote in an email to parents March 22.

Police spokeswoman Jennifer Castro said the plan was foiled by another student who told school principal. She said no students consumed the silica, and a school resource officer investigated the case.

“We’re grateful that that student was able to speak up and obviously at such a young age,” Castro said. “The important lesson here is to really teach your kids if they hear something like this, something where someone intends to do harm to someone else, they should tell someone that they trust right away.”

NBC News reports that Winterberry is a K-8 arts school that uses a “holistic approach to education that de-emphasizes standardized tests, instead incorporating the arts and imagination.”

The school has 228 students and more than 400 students on a waiting list.

The girls involved in the plot received a “multiple day suspension,” but officials did not pursue criminal charges. School officials told parents in the email that the girls will be returning to the school after the suspensions are over, according to the news site.

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Parents of Winterberry students were disturbed by the incident.

“It’s surprising to me that somebody that young could come up with a plan like that,” one unidentified parent told KTUU. “Gosh, I didn’t think I had to think about talking to my child about leaving his food unattended.”

The parent also questioned the students’ suspension.

“Is that an appropriate punishment for a school that has a several year waiting list to get in?” the father said. “It’s a lottery school, and there are plenty of other kids waiting to get into this school. I don’t think they deserve to be at this school.”

A parent of one of the suspended girls told the news site he didn’t think the attempted murder was a big deal.

“Late this afternoon I talked to the parents of one of the girls suspended and he says this actually isn’t the first time this plot has been foiled,” KTUU reporter Mallory Peebles said. “Still, he doesn’t think it’s that big of a deal, and it’s being blown out of proportion.”

Those who commented online seemed to disagree.

“Why are they being allowed to return at all when there is a waiting list?” Janice Hall Crutchfield posted. “Parents should be taking this very seriously.”

“They should be kicked out and the spots given to three of the 405 on the waiting list,” Maria May added.

“What are they teaching these kids that they think it is OK to plan a killing?” Johnathon Pendergrast questioned.