I don't know about it being staged.. but something about it does not sit right. What kind of person thinks they would even remotely have a chance of being successful? Even if you are deranged enough to try, there is no way he thought he would succeed. The vast majority of the public know about the secret service, it's not an actual secret.

I just can't square how someone mentally capable enough to procure weapons and be employed as a teacher, could possibly think they even had one iota of a chance of being successful.

(But maybe it was all for something else, and different purposes, I don't know)