Newbury School Holds Successful Safety Meeting

On Wednesday afternoon 20 parents from the Newbury School community came together to discuss their children's safety with members of the administration and the Howell Police Department.

Principal Jim Quinn said following the recent shooting in Newtown, CT he felt it was important to reassure the parents about the school's safety procedures. "I had gotten emails wondering about security," he said. "I've never gone over it in detail so I figured it was a good idea to put a little meeting together."

Quinn said he was glad to be able to help them "have their minds at ease" following what ended up being a two hour meeting. "We had a nice conversation about security in the building," he said. "It gave them an opportunity to ask some questions."

Since the recent shootings Quinn said the school has not made any big changes to their security protocols but they have "clamped down on a few things." He said similar reviews were done following the Columbine Shootings and the 9/11 attacks. "We examined a few things regarding our drills that would add to our speed and response time," he said.

The meeting came the same day as a scare at the Griebling School, a topic which was also discussed at the meeting at the meeting. He said Hill reminded the parents that the local police department has had fast response times during emergency situations at the schools.

A similar meeting is scheduled to be held at the school on Jan. 8 and Quinn said he expects the procedures implemented to help keep the students in the building safe. "We're all on very heightened alert," he said. "I'm sure that will calm down but the procedures we've clamped down on and the things we've changed won't."