Schools

New Rochelle Schools to Review Safety

A spokesman said all schools will be convening their safety teams for discussion.

New Rochelle public schools will be reviewing their individual safety protocols this week, in the wake of the shooting Friday at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT.

Spokesman Paul Costiglio said the effort would be made to make sure all procedures are up to date.

"Every school this week will be convening their safety team," he said. "They are going over all their procedures. All plans will be reviewed."

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While school safety isn't on the agenda for tonight's 7 p.m. Board of Education meeting, Costiglio said it could come up because people are still thinking about it.

The BOE will meet in the Linda Kelly Theater at the New Rochelle High School.

Find out what's happening in New Rochellewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Shortly after the deaths of Newtown school children were announced, Superintendent Richard Organisiack issued the following statement:

We were all shocked and saddened to hear the horrific news regarding Friday’s tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School.  Our thoughts and prayers go out to the entire Newtown community.

In addition to educating students, our top priority is ensuring that they are growing and learning in a safe and secure environment. The emotional and physical wellbeing of our students is of the utmost importance.

Please take the time to help your children appropriately process any information they may have heard. We suggest that parents limit children’s access to news media and details of the tragedy.  Excessive and repeated exposure to this traumatic information can cause increased anxiety among children.

Please be advised that our administrators, psychologists, social workers, counselors and teachers are here to assist you and your child if needed.  All schools will make their professionally trained staff available on Monday and throughout the week in the event any child feels the need to speak to someone.

We are committed to the ongoing evaluation of our district safety policies and will work to continue improving and refining these measures to maintain a high level of safety and security for our students and staff.

During this very difficult time, it is important for all of us to support each other as we deal with the aftermath of this tragedy and the potential effect on our students.


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