Stoughton School Officials, Police Support ALICE School Shooter Response Program

Stoughton School officials and members of the Stoughton Police recently took part in ALICE school shooter response training, hosted by the Norfolk County DA. The program encourages a more flexible response to an active shooter situation.

You wouldn't stay in a building that was filling up with smoke, so why do so if there was an active shooter in the building, Stoughton Police Chief Paul Shastany reasons. The common practice has been for a school to go into lockdown if there was an active shooter in the building, but the more passive approach might not be as effective as a more proactive defense, supporters of the ALICE program say. ALICE - an acronym for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate - was developed by Greg Crane, a former SWAT police officer, and Lisa Crane a school principal.  Chief Shastany spoke to the Stoughton School Committee about the ALICE program and its benefits at the Committee's Feb. 12 meeting. Like, the Chief, it's something the Stoughton …

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NRA: Put "Armed Security" Around Schools

"The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun," the NRA's Wayne LaPierre said.

In an amazing Friday morning press conference, the National Rifle Association broke its weeklong silence following the horrific shooting of 26 people at a school in Newtown, Conn. and called for a surge of gun-carrying "good guys" around American schools. NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre called for a new kind of American domestic security revolving around armed civilians, arguing that "the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun." "We care about our president, so we protect him with armed Secret Service agents," LaPierre said. "Members of Congress work in offices surrounded by Capitol Police officers. Yet, when it comes to our most beloved, innocent, and vulnerable members of the American family, our …

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About Town with Mark Snyder

ABOUT TOWN: Stoughton Temple Holding Fundraiser for Family of 6-Year-Old Newtown Shooting Victim

Welcome to "About Town with Mark Snyder," a column that will keep you up to the minute with what's what, who's who and what's going on around town. If you see or hear something we could use here, let us know by sending an e-mail to pmpco@aol.com.

LOCAL TEMPLE HOLDING FUNDRAISER FOR CONNECTICUT VICTIM: Stoughton's Ahavath Torah Congregation is holding a fundraiser for the family of 6-year-old Noah Pozner, who was a victim of the Newtown, CT school shooting that took the lives of 20 young children and six teachers and administrators. Noah had a twin sister and an 8-year-old sister, both of whom survived the Dec. 14 tragedy at the Sandy Hook Elementary School, the Boston Herald reports.  Ahavath Torah Congregation President David Schulze tells About Town, "There are no real deep formal plans. We just decided today that we needed to do something and it was clear to me that we need to stand with our Jewish community here and everywhere. I talked with board member Jon Bloom and vice …

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UPDATE: Officials Meet to Discuss Safety in Stoughton Schools in Wake of Newtown School Shooting

In the wake of the tragic mass shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT, Dr. Marguerite Rizzi, Superintendent of Stoughton Schools said the District Crisis Team met Sunday to review Stoughton's safety plans and procedures.

Editor's Note: Originally posted 6 a.m. on Dec. 15 and updated at 4:30 p.m. on Dec. 16. The following is a message Dr. Marguerite Rizzi, Superintendent of the Stoughton Public Schools sent to members of the media and a letter to parents Sunday afternoon following a meeting of the Schools' District Crisis Team. The meeting came in the wake of the Friday morning shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT. Adam Lanza, 20, reportedly killed his mother then 20 children and six adults at the elementary school, before killing himself. Dr. Rizzi also issued a statement Friday evening in regards to the shooting. That statement can be found below as well. *** STATEMENT TO MEDIA (Sunday, Dec. 16) We wish to reassure the parents of …

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