N.J. parents, students mixed on school guards with guns

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MARLBORO, N.J., Jan. 2 (UPI) -- Students and their parents had mixed feelings Wednesday as schools in a New Jersey town reopened with new staff members: uniformed police carrying guns.

Officials in Marlboro, N.J., voted to add the armed guards on a temporary 90-day basis after the Dec. 14 mass shootings of students and staff at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., the New York Daily News reported.

Some parents were supportive of the new security measures.

"It's about time," said Venice Robbins as she dropped off her son at Robertsville Elementary School.

Daniella Cingari, bringing her 7-year-old daughter to school, said, "It's wonderful -- the more security, the better,"

Students at Marlboro High School weren't so impressed, with some critical that the guards were an overreaction to the shootings in Connecticut.

"It makes it like an armed camp. It's overkill," said 18-year-old senior Mitch Belman.

Another senior, Alex Gonzalez, offered that "I feel safer, I guess, but it's Marlboro -- nothing's going to happen. It's one of the safest places ever."