Support Center Set Up At Pleasantville School After 4 Deaths

PLEASANTVILLE, NY — In the tiny school district of Pleasantville, there are only 1,700 students. The families and the staff are all mourning the death of a grade-schooler and a pre-schooler who were found dead, along with two adult family members, on Thursday.

Sources said the mother and children were stabbed to death. Police have not formally identified the dead or the causes of death.

Schools Superintendent Mary Fox-Alter and her staff began arranging support Thursday as the news broke about the four deaths discovered by police down the street from Pleasantville High School.

"It is important that we support our staff, students and families with a compassionate circle of care," she said in a message to the community.

The family was known by many, from teachers who were also family friends, to crossing guards, to high-schoolers who were their babysitters, she told Gary Stern at The Journal News.

Police found the bodies at 1:50 p.m. when they went to 57 Romer Ave. to conduct a welfare check, requested by Bedford Road Elementary School officials requested the check after the children didn't show up to school. They have not yet released the names, so that extended family could be informed.

Counseling is available Friday at Bedford Road School to the wider community as well as students, staff and parents. "All of us in the District are ready to support our community in the days, weeks and months ahead," Fox-Alter said in her message.

Fox-Alter told TJN that plans were to have one of the district's three schools open Saturday as well.