Security guards hired for Stamford elementary schools

Security guards hired for Stamford elementary schools using budget for supplies

The superintendent of schools in Stamford, Conn., has temporarily hired guards for elementary schools and paid for them by tapping the budgets for school supplies, according to a letter.

"I have hired security guards for all 12 elementary schools to provide a visible presence and close monitoring of visitors," Dr. Winifred Hamilton, the superintendent, wrote in the letter. "I am freezing elementary supply budgets in order to fund these positions temporarily."

The guards, like similar ones already on duty at high schools and junior high schools, are not armed, the school district said.

The letter from the superintendent indicated that the guards at the elementary schools will be in place for at least two months.  

The move comes in the wake of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, a community about 30 miles northeast of Stamford, in which a gunman shot and killed 20 children and six adults.

Dr. Hamilton was scheduled to meet with school board members to talk about security including the possibility of permanent funding for the guards.