U.S. town gets armed school guards

PLEASE NOTE: EDIT CONTAINS CONVERTED 4:3 MATERIAL

This is the response of Marlboro Township in New Jersey to the Connecticut elementary school massacre....

Armed police guards now stand at the entrance to its public schools.

Their job is to check every child, teacher and visitor and they arrive and leave.

Schools Superintendent David Abbott says reaction's been mixed but is defending the decision.

SOUNDBITE: MARLBORO TOWNSHIP SCHOOLS SUPERINTENDENT DAVID C. ABBOT SAYING (English):

"At least during a 90-day period, temporarily, as we sit down and look - and there's a good debate in the community about what it is that we want to do and not do - but while we're doing that let's make sure that our schools are as safe and secure as we possibly can, given what's happened."

Twenty children and six staff members died when a gunman opened fire at Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut.

The attack on December 14th was the second deadliest school shooting in U.S. history.

As surviving pupils returned to classes on January 3rd in a new building with a new name, the motives of the killer remain a mystery.