Norton School Officials, Police React to Connecticut School Shooting

Norton school and police officials are confident that if a school shooting were ever attempted, like the one in Newton, Conn. that occurred Friday, they are prepared to react quickly and efficiently.

In fact, lockdown practice drills were conducted at the elementary schools earlier this week with Norton Police Department. Superintendent Dr. Martes observed the drill at Henri A. Yelle Elementary with principal Lisa Farrell and Detective James Franco.

“Detective Franco was very impressed by our procedures,” Martes said. “He told me that the other drills went well.  Having said that, we will continue to review our procedures with the police department.”  

Let Patch save you time. Get great local stories like this delivered right to your inbox or smartphone everyday with our free newsletter. Simple, fast sign-up here.

Following the shooting that killed 27 Sandy Hook Elementary School students and faculty members, Martes spoke with Norton Police Chief Brian Clark about such procedures. In an emergency, the superintendents office will utilize the AlertNow system to communicate with parents.  

“In fact, I am working on an AlertNow email to all families about how to communicate with their children and our resources being available on Monday,” Martes said. “Each school has an evacuation plan.  For obvious reasons, we don’t share those locations.”

Norton Police Department also has procedures to follow if such a tragedy were to ever take place.

“We do train extensively for this type of incident, and have plans in place,” said Norton Police Lieutenant Todd Jackson. “For obvious reasons, some of the training must be kept confidential.”