PRINCETON: School leaders offer advice to parents, staff

By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
   School superintendents from the region were seeking to project an aura of calm in the wake of Friday’s massacre at an elementary school in Connecticut.
   ”It is important that we reassure our students that the adults in their lives are doing all that is possible to keep them safe — in their environment, their school, their neighborhood and their home,” West Windsor-Plainsboro Superintendent Victoria Kniewel wrote in a message to parents on Sunday.
   Nancy Gartenberg, school superintendent in Montgomery, sent a similar letter to parents.
   She said, “I want to assure you . . . that our district will continue to enforce security measures and even re-evaluate our security (as we do on a regular basis) to make sure we are doing all that’s reasonably possible to keep our children safe.”
   As schools opened Monday after a weekend dominated by news of the tragedy, it was suggested to teachers and staff at Princeton public schools that they not bring up the issue, but respond to questions and concerns students might have, said Superintendent of Schools Judith A. Wilson.
   Ms. Wilson said there were not large numbers of absences of children afraid to go to school.
   Frank Belluscio, spokesman for the New Jersey School Boards Association, said Monday that Friday’s massacre would lead districts in the state to review their security procedures. He said what distinguished the Connecticut shooting from prior school massacres was that the perpetrator was not someone from within the school but from without.
   He said this would lead to discussion on how best to secure school buildings such as through bulletproof glass, as Mr. Belluscio said news accounts have said the Connecticut gunman shot his way into the school.
   He said a “large number” of New Jersey schools have uniformed police inside, known as school resource officers. But he said they are not usually at elementary schools.
   According to officials, public schools hold monthly fire and security drills, including what to do if there is an active shooter.
   Barbara Morgan, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Education, said Monday that the department’s school safety office stays in contact with law enforcement agencies and other districts to stay current with best practices when it comes to protecting school children.
   Also, Mr. Belluscio said districts have to update their security plans.
   At Princeton, Ms. Wilson said her district would have Princeton police and Princeton director of emergency services Bob Gregory meet with school officials in January to review security protocols.