Crisisactors.org, the website established to represent the collaboration between the Visionbox professional actors studio and FEMA’s Emergency Management Institute has been dormant since August 2014. This is according to information obtained from Internet Archive on June 15, 2015.

crisisactors

On July 29, 2014 a notice retrieved from Internet Archive for crisisactors.org announces:

Maintenance

We apologize for the inconvenience, but Crisis Actors is currently undergoing maintenance.

On August 5, 2014 a moderately revised statement announces:

Sorry! We’re under maintenance. We are making some updates to the site. We’ll be back soon, thanks for your patience [sic].

Less than one month later, on August 26, 2014 a static page is prompted via the url that has remained through June 19, 2015.

404: Not Found. Please double check the address you’ve just entered. If you entered “www.example.com/networkname.com”, try “networkname.com instead.”

It is clear from the continuum of these announcements and their identical features that the most recent notification is an attempt to convince the casual browser that the site never existed, when in fact it appears it is being retained for possible future use.

One may recall that in late 2012 the use of professional actors for a variety of roles in “live shooter drills” was becoming common practice. Indeed, as the Sandy Hook massacre event was dominating the news cycle crisisactors.org even maintained a department of “Crisis Actors News”–hyperlinked headlines of stories on active shooter drills where its stable of actors are presumably engaged.

Weber Co. Sheriff’s Office conducts active shooter drill – Fox 13 Now – Salt Lake City
Henn. County deputies train for active shooter incident – KARE
San Bernardino County Sheriff Department staged a series of active shooter on … – Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
MSA Security: Active Shooter Response Training Could Help Schools – GroundReport
Roanoke County Police hold active shooter drill – WDBJ7
Roanoke County police train for active shooter emergency – WSLS
VIDEO: Airport Police Conduct ‘Active Shooter’ Training in Light of Sandy Hook … – Pacific News Center
Mobile Simulators Provide ‘Active Shooter’ Training To Ohio Officers – 10TV
Active Shooter Drill Taking Place at CSUN – KTLA
Sheriff-elect: Crews trained, ready for active shooter situations – KTIV
It’s only a drill: Police conducting “active shooter” training on UGA campus – Online Athens
Police conduct active shooter drill in area school – Q13 FOX
Sandy Hook: Ithaca Police Finish ‘Active Shooter’ Training on Day of Conn … – The Ithaca Independent
UA teachers receive training to take on active shooter – Akron Beacon Journal
Police Officers Get “Active Shooter” Training – fox4kc.com
Special training helps prepare for active shooter; ALICE techniques being … – 10News
Tucson Police conducts active shooter drill – KVOA Tucson News
Active shooter drill spooks students, teachers – FOX 4 News
ALiCE training offers active shooter prep for schools – Bellefontaine Examiner
Program takes notes from tragedies in active shooter training – KHOU

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In the months leading up to the Sandy Hook school massacre “live shooter drills” using “crisis actors,” sometimes to the alarm of unwitting bystanders, was becoming increasingly commonplace. Image credit: crisis actors.org

Vistionbox likewise carried a description of the Crisis Actors project on its website as late as December 26, 2012:

Crisis Actors is a professional group of actors trained at Visionbox to develop and portray characters in emergency training scenarios. The intensity at which they work recreates real life pressures that first responders going through the training must cope with.

Crisis Actors, at this time, consists of two teams.

The first team is the same group that makes up our professional acting ensemble and is the initial group to work on this project. Our actors with the guidance of filmmaker John Simmons, school safety expert Steve Hoban, and Executive Artistic Director Jennifer McCray Rincon, have developed scenarios aimed at training first responders (teachers, administrators, custodians, etc) how to effectively manage an emergency with quick and powerful decisions. This special group has sessions with police officers, 911 operators, school administrators, mall security, radio experts, and school safety training professionals. There is an endless amount of scenarios this group can tackle, which range anywhere from weather issues, to a missing child, to an unknown intruder.

The second team is a group of highly talented actors that have been working on their acting craft by training with Master Acting Teacher Jennifer McCray Rincon on classic material written by Anton Chekhov, Tennessee Williams, Shakespeare, Brecht, and other influential playwrights. Eventually, the second team will go through the same training the first team went through. This intense work will eventually be applied to portraying characters in a Crisis Actor training scenario.

For more information please visit the Crisis Actors website, call us at 720.810.1641, or email us at info@visionbox.org

By January 16, 2013 as the Visionbox and Crisis Actors websites were besieged with hits following Anderson Cooper’s reportage (below) and attendant mainstream media coverage the above post had been deleted.

Along these lines, on October 31, 2012, “Visionbox Crisis Actors” issued a press release announcing their services, “Active Shooter Crisis Actors Target Mall Shootings via Visionbox.” This article clearly references the actors’ coordination with law enforcement.

The actors regularly rehearse scenarios involving the Incident Command System and crisis communications, and appear in interactive training films produced in both 2D and stereoscopic 3D.

The press release is reproduced in its entirety below as preserved at Fellowship of the Minds

Active Shooter Crisis Actors Target Mall Shootings via Visionbox

DENVER, CO, October 31, 2012 — A new group of actors is now available nationwide for active shooter drills and mall shooting full-scale exercises, announced Visionbox, Denver’s leading professional actors studio.

Visionbox Crisis Actors are trained in criminal and victim behavior, and bring intense realism to simulated mass casualty incidents in public places.

The actors’ stage acting experience, ranging from Shakespeare to contemporary American theater, enables them to “stay in character” throughout an exercise, and improvise scenes of extreme stress while strictly following official exercise scenarios.

The actors regularly rehearse scenarios involving the Incident Command System and crisis communications, and appear in interactive training films produced in both 2D and stereoscopic 3D.

Producers Jennifer McCray Rincon and John Simmons formed the group to demonstrate emerging security technologies, help first responders visualize life-saving procedures, and assist trainers in delivering superior hands-on crisis response training.

For example, with a large shopping center, the producers review all security camera views and design dramatic scenes specifically for existing camera angles, robotic camera sweeps, and manually-controlled camera moves.

The producers then work with the trainers to create a “prompt book” for the actors so that key scenario developments can be triggered throughout the mall shooting simulation, and caught on tape.

The actors can play the part of the shooters, mall employees, shoppers in the mall, shoppers who continue to arrive at the mall, media reporters and others rushing to the mall, and persons in motor vehicles around the mall.

Visionbox Crisis Actors can also play the role of citizens calling 911 or mall management, or posting comments on social media websites.

During the exercise, the producers use two-way radio to co-direct the Crisis Actors team from the mall dispatch center and at actors’ locations.

Within this framework, the exercise can test the mall’s monitoring and communications systems, the mall’s safety plan including lockdown and evacuation procedures, the ability of first responders and the mall to coordinate an effective response, and their joint ability to respond to the media and information posted on the Internet.

Security camera footage is edited for after-action reports and future training.

For more information visit www.Visionbox.org and www.CrisisActors.org.

Visionbox is a project of the Colorado Nonprofit Development Center. Crisis Actors is a project of the Colorado Safety Task Force established by Colorado State Senator Steve King.

Contact:
Nathan Bock
Amanda Brown
(720) 810-1641
info@visionbox.org

Yet there may be much more to the Visionbox Crisis Actors project reverberating through the flurry of alleged shooting incidents taking place since the early 2010s. For example, Visionbox is proficient in using social media such as Facebook and Twitter to “broadcast” a catastrophic event to both participant “actors” and the public at large. In addition, the theatric entourage/ is also knowledgeable at “crowdsourcing,”or monitoring how an event is relayed and interpreted through the body politic via Facebook, Twitter, and so on.

In December 2012 Visionbox Crisis Actors produced a detailed 73-page syllabus, “Social Media in Emergency Management,” an instructional class foregrounding the central role of social media to coordinate and convey a catastrophic event. The course objectives include:

o Explain why social media is important for emergency management.

o Describe the major functions and features of common social media sites currently used in emergency management.

o Describe the opportunities and challenges of using social media applications during the five phases of emergency management.

o Describe better practices for using social media applications during the five phases of emergency management.

o Describe the process for building social media capabilities and to sustain the use of social media in emergency management organizations (state, local, tribal, territorial).

o Explain why using social media is important to emergency management.

o Identify the changes in media and public information.

o Explain the communication opportunities available to emergency managers through social media.

o Describe several examples of using social media in a variety of emergency management functions in different types of disasters.

o Identify the challenges of using social media and explore ways that these might be addressed.

As Sofia Smallstorm has suggested through her meticulous research, the Sandy Hook massacre was in fact mediated to a significant degree via social media. Earlier intimations by this author and other independent researchers–that “crisis actors” might have been present in the most significant “live shooter event” in the US to date–left Vistionbox Crisis Actors and their defenders, such as CNN’s Anderson Cooper, bristling with indignation. crisisactors_tracy

“We are outraged by … James Tracy’s deliberate promotion of rumor and innuendo to link Crisis Actors to the Sandy Hook shootings of December 14, 2012,” the crisisactors.org site fumed just two days before Cooper’s famous January 11, 2013 broadcast calling out the “conspiracy theory professor.”

We do not engage our actors in any real world crisis events, and none of our performances may be presented at any time as a real-world event. James Tracy’s so-called research is copied almost verbatim from a tightly-connected group of hate blogs and YouTube channels that use only one another as sources. From the thousands of comments of these sites’ devoted followers, one thing is clear: They are nothing but thrill-seekers using any pretext to vent their irrational hate against the Sandy Hook community and a nation of mourners.

Yet these very researchers may have identified several Visionbox actors who closely resembled supposed emergency responders and family members on the scene in Sandy Hook on December 14, 2012 and thereafter, some of whom made themselves readily available for press interviews. This was detailed in a MHB post appearing in April 2013, “Crisis Actors at Sandy Hook?

A foremost link between Visionbox/Crisis Actors, Anderson Cooper and Connecticut is the fact that Visionbox’s founder and director referenced in the above press statement, Jennifer McCray Rincon, received her undergraduate and graduate degrees from Yale University. Cooper and Rincon were both attending Yale in the late 1980s, with Cooper graduating with an undergraduate degree in 1989, and Rincon receiving her MFA in 1987.

That the alliance between Visionbox, Crisis Actors and FEMA is no longer trumpeted on the internet and in press releases, and that the crisisactors.org website has “disappeared”, may very well be a matter of coincidence. For others it may be concerning, particularly in the midst of the catastrophic civic breakdowns over the past few years in Boston, Ferguson and Baltimore, in addition to the numerous active shooter events, most recently manifest in Charleston South Carolina.

As a final observation and in light of the above it is worthwhile noting that between June 15 and 19, 2015 the Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Charleston was conducting The Active Shooter Threat Instructor Training Program, “designed to provide a field training agent or officer with high quality training and instill the analytical knowledge, skills and attitudes needed for the highest proficiency in this specialized field,” the course description reads. “The course takes Active Shooter Threat Tactics Training to the next level by emphasizing leadership, teach backs, and adult learning as well as the traditional technical skills needed by field training officers and special agents.”

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67 thought on “Where Have All the Crisis Actors Gone?”
  1. “We do not engage our actors in any real world crisis events…”

    Um, I think that’s just what we’re saying here: there was nothing “real world” about Sandy Hoax.

  2. These staged events are becoming so, so easy to spot!

    Problem, Reaction, Solution, my friends.

    “Turning and turning in the widening gyre

    The falcon cannot hear the falconer…..”

    I thought with Holder gone, things would lighten up.

        1. Holy crap Mr. Winston Smith – I had not seen this Dept of Justice situation anywhere. Thank you! I’ve read, read and shared with others. This is just one example of the massive corruption…and surely only a part of the reason why Holder has slithered off under a rock somewhere. Thank you again!

        2. I’m replying to BethD below: I was shocked too–I did not know our country had gone to this! Outright theft! Eric Holder and his sick desire to “brainwash” our youth that guns are evil, his what I refer to as money laundering to Sandy Hook for the treasonous event, yet doing it openly under the cover of Project Longevity–I mean Plato could tell us about morality and justice. Ah geez, now I’m getting philosophical, too early…..

        3. Mr. Winston – agree with you. The current administration (and those formerly affiliated) have reached new heights of boldness when it comes to their criminal conduct. I believe we are really in for it – they are going to continue to do whatever it takes to get their boots on our throats.

  3. Whenever I come to Memory Hole Blog, it is only to obtain a cheap thrill and to associate with indiscriminate and mindless, rabid hate.

    When I want genuine and reliable, accurate information, I go to a government-approved site, where I know I can trust, without reservations, the actors present and the messages they contain.

    The above two statements are lies.

    Ned Lud

  4. This was inevitable. I wonder why it was even ever so blatantly available. Did they want to get caught? You can’t have doublethink unless people know both the truth and the falsehood, I like to say.
    In the recent “prison escape” in upstate NY, for example, I immediately recognized the problems with the narrative and concluded that it was and is an ongoing hoax. I posted a quick vid on YouTube and have a modest thousand hits. But it occurs to me that next time and over time the government(s) (federal and state) might get better and better at presenting a coherent, believable narrative, and determining the difference between a real and false government sponsored tragedy may become more difficult.

    1. They do, indeed, seem to be learning from their critics on YouTube, and even here, where their flaws are, and seem to be altering the narrative(s) to improve their story, perhaps as best they can.

  5. So it takes a “hate blog” to suss out that an event with every feature of a drill has been plucked from obscurity and crowned as the real thing, depending upon political needs of the moment.

    Once the news services have done their duty in putting the seal of authenticity on this favored drill, anyone who doubts it is a “hater” simply because he refuses to lend his support to the narrative by the usual means of expressing sympathy for the victims, crying out for the blood of the perps, and moving generally in the direction where policy is sending the compliant majority (who never forget where they were when they heard and are marked for life). Disbelievers did not begin that way. It was a gradual process of losing trust, and seeking explanations for these events that stand up better than the official explanation. “Wolf” has been cried so many times, that they cannot rouse themselves to be following the news 24/7, just to reassure themselves the authorities have everything firmly in hand. If their state of mind is now defined as hatred, it is hatred for lies and manipulation.

    Yesterday in Boston, a State Police trooper shot a shirtless white man who was said to be carrying a knife. He was reported to have been shot once in the torso – but apparently this was not enough (said what must have been distant eyewitnesses, later interviewed in the most crisis actorly style) – and to kill the monster dead three more bullets were popped out by the valiant statie. As the news readers rose to truly hysterical levels of triumphant glee for the power of the police, the lame story emerged that this guy had photographed his toned body in “explicit” poses and deposited them at a laundromat frequented by Boston University coeds, followed up by obscene phone calls (to a pay phone? to the laundromat’s land line?) asking if they liked what they saw. He had also participated in exercise at a local work-out site. To hear his actions described, you would have thought he had propositioned a nun (surely a hangable offense in Boston – although there are now a lot more gym rats than nuns nowadays). Anyway, it was a tale told by idiots, and the many high fives to the police on this one were intended to give the impression that this city is one which highly values the lives of cops over all. If this is some way of attracting the Olympics, I fail to see the value of it.

    1. Thanks, Great link Kar!

      http://www.crisiscast.com/#!about/c4nz

      Check out the photo of the guy with the fake arm stump being “triaged” by a guy with touching up the blood on his “arm stump”. The fake blood on the nearby minivan! This is great. The sheeple won’t believe it. They are ripe to be turned into serfs, or, worse, Chinese factory workers who corporations need to put safety tarp/nets to stop from killing themselves en masse due to their oppressive conditions. Once the corporatocracy gets a police state protective of its interests we will all be SAFE, living in a paperless currency society, and, having generous rations by our state masters! Chairman Obama and The People’s Republic of America! They did have Mao Tse Tung on the White House Christmas tree lights back in 2009-how telling!!!!

  6. jedmarlin’s question above also confounds me. Why did they, for some time, make it so easy to ‘catch them?’ Hubris is the best I can come up with.

    The crisis actor part of this latest one also confounds me, more than any other aspect. I have yet to watch the victims’ families play out their roles (if it is indeed wholly fake) but I hear they’re pretty good. So the Feds Got Talent, I suppose. It’s this Dylann Roof kid whose starring turn gives me pause. If he’s acting and not ‘mind-controlled’ in some way, where does he go when it’s all over?

    I guess the same could be said about Charles Manson, whose authenticity I’ve not fully assessed. I just can’t figure how a young person would sell their life away. Roof will never live a normal life anywhere after this. Elliot Rodger might be able to live with his CIA parents in some place where his look is common. But for Roof there’s nowhere that I can think of where he wouldn’t be recognized. This incident will probably be all over white countries’ news.

  7. Maybe they are all in the Jade Helm operations now! Jade Helm will be deployed in real-time integration with the public. No crisis actors needed. This is a step up in the exercises. Huh?

  8. WELL CONSIDERING WHAT THESE “ACTORS” (I USE THE TERM LIGHTLY) sorry, the term is traitors. We are making very good files with faces to match because when it all iron’s out, these people will be tracked down, and charged with treason. If the make it to jail that is!

  9. I luv the gallery for Memory Hole. Some of the links provided and comments are as much fun as the articles themselves. Sometimes I would just like to post just one little jpeg to illustrate my point. Photographic and film evidence was once much easier to trust like during the Kennedy era, that’s why JFK’s snuff film took years to release, it was tough to alter film back then, now it’s mouse clicks for anyone to create an illusion that bares little resemblance to what actually took place. In an era where virtually anyone can photoshop or chroma key in a fictitious event that never happened, who can we really trust when it comes to sea change events like Sandy Hook? When you add crisis actors into the mix, reality is turned into a mobias strip. The Möbius strip has the mathematical property of being non-orientable. Why wasn’t the crisis acting better? Why didn’t any parents cry rivers over their murdered offspring? Why was the acting better in my sister’s high school plays? How is that so many people didn’t see right through it? You try to talk about it to someone on the street and they look at you like you have snakes growing out of your scalp. It can elicit a violent reaction like “I bet you don’t have any kids, you conspiracy F#5k !” When I think back to the middle age couple on TV with Anderson Cooper that seems sublime in their happiness, when trauma, sadness and despair should be what we see. Then they give away one of their dead daughter’s crayon drawings to a stranger???? You have a 6 year old dead daughter that will never crayon draw again, and you give one away to a stranger? How it that even possible in the real world? Remember the mobius strip? it’s non-orientable like people that can be happy, even radiantly so, in face of what should be a crushing loss

  10. does anyone know when the next installment is of John B Wells’ covering the his entire Sandy Hook “Experience”????????????
    We are dying for the complete coverage of the last trip.

  11. Dang…I thinkwe’re too late to sign up for this crisis actors’ listing (see link)….Eh,you think the escaped fugitives will be found in OH or any other area undergoing an exercise?

    https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=7d245fd0e8b5c0afbab3e62425b05c11&tab=core&_cview=0

    These escapees seem to have quite the network or ? . Why is it no holdups, carjacks or food and water thefts being reported?

    I’d read Gov of NY did his photo op at the prison but no other reports were allowed to view the “escape pipe”. Have you folks heard this?

    This is yet another manufactured event to practice martial law on the public. Let’s pop up some more popcorn and see how it ends…

    1. I agree with you, BethD, that “This is yet another manufactured event to practice martial law on the public.” Get everybody used to the old door-to-door. Only troops can keep us safe from ourselves!

    2. Anyone else notice that in the “mug shots” on every newscast both men were the exact same height? Down to millimeters. How improbable is that?

    1. Heck, here’s the whole story..

      WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Justice Department will fast track the sending of $29 million to South Carolina to help families of victims of the mass murder of nine churchgoers at a historic black church in Charleston, a Justice Department spokesman said on Friday.

      An unspecified portion of the money, allocated under the government’s national Crime Victim Assistance Formula Grant program, can be used to provide services to the families of victims of the shootings at Emmanuel AME Church, spokesman Kevin Lewis said.

      (Reporting by Lindsay Dunsmuir; Editing by Sandra Maler)

      1. Let’s see. Stage an event, funnel money to “victims”–didn’t Eric Holder pull off a scam just like this recently???

        Thanks, middle class!

      2. Doesn’t this violate the separation of church and state? I understand that church stands badly in need of repair – can it be possible a good chunk is also going for that? Apparently the historic church had termites and other problems and the fund-raising was not working out — until now, perhaps. I believe that may be why they feel it should be treated more like a historic site, open to all — don’t know how this works.

        I know that if the famous Old North Church in Boston (still in use as a church) began to have problems, there would be some way the preservationists in government could save it as a historic monument. Perhaps the status of Denmark Vesey’s Church was more precarious in Charleston, since many of its original builders were hanged for planning a slave revolt (which may actually have been a mere conspiracy theory of its own day).

    2. Millions of other “victims” don’t get a red cent, but these special people are treated to government largesse at the drop of a hat. What are these monies for? Genuine help or genuine hush money?

        1. Well, they’ve decided that there’s a little something in there for SHES and BMB as well. Who said crime doesn’t pay?

          http://investmentwatchblog.com/massacre-pay-scale-charleston-29-million-sandy-hook-7-1-million-boston-marathon-bombings-8-3-million-aurora-theater-2-9-million/

          Well, this is one “gage” of their involvement. As Karl Rove said, “we’re an empire now…..”. I don’t see them dipping into the taxpayer’s money for just any old shooting. Only the useful ones.

          Isn’t it nice to see such generosity? This could be a cure for job loss and homelessness. We could start an acting college. They won’t run out of productions until they run out of agenda items.

    1. One of the wildest craziest things about Sandy Hook is the memorials for people that haven’t died yet 2 days before the massacre. A article that says the speculation must end on Adam Lanza… posted before the crime. You try to mention that to people still trapped in the Matrix, they only have one response: “Are you a conspiracy theorist?”. You get the look that Medusa must have grown a-customed to… they look at you like you have snakes gyrating in unison out of your scalp. This stuff is mind blowing.

      1. But I like what someone recently posted at Memory Hole along those lines – a session with Naomi Wolf, talking about actual government conspiracies and the need to apply skepticism and reality testing of each “spectacle” (her word, and mine).

  12. There were real actors involved in the Sandy Hook event – The Phelps being interviewed on green screen appearing to be at Treadwell Park on 12/15 – what in the world were they doing there on 12/15 anyway ?

    The Wheelers – the video of the FBI HRT team has a guy that looks striningly like Dave Wheeler and he conspicuously tries to avoid cameras. ( I am a staunch opponent of all such Dallas Goldbug theories but this guy is strikingly identical to Dave Wheeler- )

    There seems to be very limited pictures of Mary Sherlach. Classroom 8 had two new teachers (Rouseau and Davino) that nobody knew. I know for a fact that Rouseau worked at a Starbucks prior to the 12/14 event. Her car and her DNA are anomalies that have yet to be explained.

    I know for a fact Dawn Hochsprung is real so my question is where did she go ?

    I also know Vicki Soto appears to have been real as well, she is in a Stratford High School year book for what that’s worth.

    My position has evolved as more and more facts become evident. I believed the event was a pre planned false flag and did not pursue the elements that indicate that much of the event was faked. However when you see police personnel joking and snacking in the parking lot supposedly over the blood of Olivia Engel we can only conclude that we have egregious misconduct or a fraudulent event right ? When teh CSP directly contradict the Newtown PD and assert that Newtown PD saw the shooter and did nothing then again we have serious incompetence or a lie. The chief of police in a FOIA hearing did not know who in his department corresponded with the State Police helicopter ?

    Multiple witnesses contradicting themselves – Nicole Hockley, Sue Short, Laura Phelps, Dr William Begg.

    The Superbowl kids and multiple photoshop pictures do indicate that the children victims are constructs.

    But we have yet to have any compelling evidence (photo-video) that Hochsprung or anybody else is alive.

    Hopefully at some point some LE personnel will honor their oath and expose the missing pieces that will prove the lie unequivocally.

  13. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oU6lMDIfRpE
    at the 15 minute mark, the head of the Newtown Town Council says the town never ordered the chemical toilets, that it was homeland security that provided them. This fact was brought fourth through questioning by Wolf’s opposition to freedom of information, the little snake town attorney. His own questioning shot him in the foot. When Wolf said ‘Thank You!”, the attorney’s panties got caught on barbed wire and he squealed like a cry baby. I wonder after this gets out, who will ever hire this weasal for legal services again outside of government.

  14. I think the NFL is in serious trouble for being part of this scam, bringing the Sandy Hook Choir to the Super Bowl. I don’t think the kids were from Sandy Hook school. That’s why they were never in the local paper or the Hartford paper. There’s no record of the permission slips for a field trip with the Newtown School board because it was not their kids going. Eventually the NFL will have to answer for their involvement. I would love to run into the NFL Commissioner and ask him this: So Roger, there’s no record of the Sandy Hook School Choir’s field trip to the Super Bowl with the school board. How were you able to obtain permission for the field trip without the school board’s approval? Who’s idea was it to include the choir at the Super Bowl? When was the decision made to include the choir, when the Super Bowl was planned more than a year in advance? Just to see the look on his face would be worth a million bucks. Who at the NFL will leak the travel planing documents for the choir? Imagine seeing a date before the massacre.

    1. I posted this earlier under “DHS Everyone Must Check In”. It may be worth repeating:

      http://www.newstimes.com/local/article/Sandy-Hook-choir-to-sing-at-Super-Bowl-4236767.php

      Excerpts:
      NEWTOWN — An anonymous donor has provided money so that as many as 26 members of the Sandy Hook Elementary School choir can perform “America the Beautiful” at the Super Bowl on Sunday.
      Talk of the invitation to the Superdome in New Orleans was circulating in the school district Wednesday, but school leaders were closed-mouthed about details.
      Parents and staff not attending the game were expected to receive information on the choir’s performance in the coming days.
      The Board of Education approved the donation for the Superbowl event as part of its consent agenda on Jan. 23. The amount of the donation was not in the minutes, and school officials interviewed this week were either unaware of the amount or unwilling to provide such details.
      First Selectman Pat Llodra said Wednesday she knew about the invitation and donation but did not have details. She said she simply forwarded the contact to Schools Superintendent Janet Robinson, who then forwarded the information to the board, which approved the gift.
      Messages left at both Sandy Hook School and for other school leaders, including central office administrators, were not returned Wednesday.
      “It’s an honor,” one local parent, who did not wish to be identified, said of the invitation to perform at the Superbowl.

      1. Anne, thanks for that. If it really was the choir from Sandy Hook, then why no coverage of the event in the Newtown Bee? That’s front page for a small town local paper. But’s there no story at all in the Bee according to one researcher who was able to look at hard copies of the paper at a library near Sandy Hook. How is that possible? I live in a small town, and one our local chefs recently won for a week straight on TV show ‘Jeopardy’. He won $180,000 or thereabouts. His story was in our small town paper. Singing at the Super Bowl? That would be 1000 times bigger deal than winning on Jeopardy. Can the gallery confirm or disprove the no coverage of singing at the Super Bowl? in the Newtown Bee? What about the Hartford major newspaper ?

  15. I did an on-line search of the Newtown Bee: No story comes up when you search for the Sandy Hook Choir at the Super Bowl: But check out this letter to the editor I did find a few weeks after the Super Bowl:

    http://newtownbee.com/news/letters-editor/2013/02/20/superintendent-s-apology-falls-short/4751
    Superintendent’s Apology Falls Short

    By Ellen Aho and Tim Shearin et al
    Wednesday, February 20, 2013

    To the Editor:
    Much has been said recently about this issue and by now it is understood that the Children of Newtown Choir, which recorded “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and performed on Good Morning America, is not and never claimed to be sponsored by or part of the Newtown school system.  It is an independent group of 21 children, all but one of whom live in Newtown, originated by Tim Hayes, an independent producer who wanted to do something good for the town, and directed by Sabrina Post, who operates Sabrina’s Encore Productions LLC in Newtown.   Dozens of others were involved in the project and all of them, including Ms Post and Mr Hayes, volunteered their time and talent; none received any compensation or profit.
    On February 3, a different children’s chorus from Sandy Hook School performed at the Super Bowl.  The media confused the two groups but not because of anything that the Children of Newtown Choir, Ms Post, or anyone affiliated with the group said or did.  Nonetheless, School Superintendent Janet  Robinson decided to insert herself into the issue.  In a CNN interview on February 7, she professed not to know who the members of the Children of Newtown Choir were.  Worse, she questioned whether any of the children were actually from Newtown and claimed the group had misrepresented itself.  She made these statements notwithstanding the widespread publicity surrounding the Children of Newtown project and without making a simple phone call to discover the facts.  Her comments caused a media frenzy. 
    Unfortunately and most undeservedly, the media directed their attention to Ms Post, casting doubt on her integrity and character.  In truth, Ms Post has exemplified the very best that Newtown has shown the world in the wake of the tragedy.  She has devoted untold amounts of time and effort teaching the Choir members, chaperoning them, coordinating the project and providing a shoulder when needed for support.  She has never asked anyone for compensation or recognition.  She has simply given of herself and her talent.  
    On February 13, after the media had run with a series of negative articles and nationally televised broadcasts, Dr Robinson issued a so-called apology, which was published that week in The Newtown Bee.  Her “apology” falls short on many levels, but especially because she did not apologize to Ms Post.  She did not take responsibility for the harm she had caused to someone whose conduct was completely genuine and pure.  We deserve more from the person in whom we have entrusted our children’s education.  If Dr Robinson cannot truly recognize the damage she has caused and offer a heart-felt apology to Ms Post, how can we expect her to teach our children to apologize to those they hurt?
    The Children of Newtown project was undertaken under the guidance of someone who deeply cares about this town and its children, Sabrina Post.  She did not deserve to be vilified because Dr Robinson spoke without thinking.  She deserves our appreciation for making Newtown shine.
     Sincerely,
    Ellen Aho and Tim Shearin, Wendy and Marco Verga, Beth and Max Tananbaum, Eric and Susan Chanko, Caren Wellman, Michele and Alan Hankin, Matt and Martha Crebbin, Rebecca Beiter, Denise and Joe Sullivan, Christine and Herb Doscher, Kristie and Larry Petershack, Kris and Steve Powers
    81 Taunton Hill Road, Newtown      February 20, 2013

    1. I guess the School Superintendent Robinson, who “inserted herself into” the non-Sandy Hook origin of those children singers is going to have to learn never to tell the truth if it contradicts a legend. She is supposed to apologize or (let’s face it) be fired so they can put someone in who will be a willing mouthpiece for any necessary lies. Sinister.
      “Casting doubt on the integrity of character” of someone by telling the truth without checking it out with “proper” authorities first – that won’t do anymore… But of course the signatories argue from the position that Robinson lacks compassion and thus impugns what are actually pure motives…

      This letter is just remarkable. I wish the remarks of Robinson had caused a bigger media frenzy than they did.

    2. This is a hard one to call. Like everything else in Sandy Hook/Newtown, its dripping with intrigue. First, doesn’t anyone find it a little strange to announce an appearance a mere two days after such an event?

      Next, we only have the paper (undoubtedly fed by the Llordia Crime Family and the school district capos), to indict Ms. Post. She may be crooked, she may not, who knows?

      So the story is that the school, the church, etc., all cried “too soon”. But what about the announcement? It also appears when a “donor” shows up, well, why didn’t ya’ say so?

      Then there’s the slander by the superintendent. My guess is that she doesn’t like Post (for the stated reason or not), and is petty and vindictive enough to attempt to damage her. The fact that she got any sort of apology at all is likely due to her knowing a lawyer.

      Like everything else, this is over the top. It it were all “real”, and we know it isn’t, it would be extreme exploitation. That would apply to the school as well as the private production. It would also apply to the Idi Obongo administration who is running this program.

      These sports events are very similar to Roman games. More mind control. Anyone who buys into this sort of thing shouldn’t make decisions for themselves.

      Let’s suppose for a moment that your child was exposed to a violent tragedy. Would you want her or him to fixate on that by participating in organized pity-fests? I suppose there are some who would. In this world all grief is public, displayed with a smile and placated with cash.

  16. Here’s an article I found from the nearby Danbury, CT Newstimes:
    http://www.newstimes.com/local/article/Two-choirs-cause-tension-in-Sandy-Hook-4264048.php
    feb 8, 2013 NEWTOWN — Schools Superintendent Janet Robinson was one of millions awed by the debut of 26 Sandy Hook third- and fourth-graders singing “America the Beautiful” at the Super Bowl pre-game show in New Orleans. She was hardly the only one. Burly football players from both teams wept, a tribute to the young performers honoring 26 lost classmates and educators in a Dec. 14 shooting mourned across the globe.
    Weeks earlier, a different group of 21 Newtown youngsters had stirred similar emotions when they sang “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” on national TV.
    Now, Robinson is in the center of what has gone from murmurs into a simmering dispute over which singing group truly represents Sandy Hook.
    The drama over the two different groups started after New York music producer Tim Hayes decided to tap into the musical arts to help the Sandy Hook community heal after the Sandy Hook massacre.
    Days after the shooting, Hayes called school leaders about coordinating a student-focused musical performance. He said he was politely rejected because administrators felt it was too soon. He approached churches and received a similar answer. He was then steered to the Newtown Youth Academy and ultimately a private theater studio in town, Encore Productions.
    Encore owner Sabrina Post volunteered to assist Hayes with the project. She enlisted children enrolled in her program as well as their local friends and relatives. All 21 children from kindergarten age to 13 are Newtowners, he said.
    As the project progressed, the children were invited to perform at the Ridgefield theater and at a New York Knicks game. On Sunday, they will sing for the pre-Grammy show.
    Unbeknownst to Hayes, however, an anonymous donor on a parallel track arranged to send 26 Sandy Hook Elementary children to the Super Bowl. Those were a different group of children altogether.
    Confusion ensued. School leaders and Sandy Hook families were suddenly thrust into the limelight.
    Post’s history in the school system has added another element of tension. She resigned as the Newtown High choral director in 2005 after she was accused of financial improprieties for which she made restitution and was granted a court-ordered accelerated rehabilitation.
    In an interview Thursday afternoon, Robinson said she was flooded with queries about Post’s connection with the school group. There is none, she said.
    “The Super Bowl performers are the only legitimate (Sandy Hook school) group,” Robinson said.
    As for the proceeds for the DVD recording that was made, Robinson said that also has nothing to do with the school system.
    District Music Director Michelle Hiscavich told Robinson that some parents felt this was an exploitation of their tragedy.
    “While the Superbowl and `From Broadway with Love’ were wonderful opportunities, the preparations were very stressful for everyone involved in such a short period of times. It is too difficult to manage at this time,” Hiscavich said in a message to Robinson.
    Hayes said he doesn’t want to “fan the flames of controversy” but is saddened that what was intended to be a venue for children to offer their condolences turned sour. The Grammys will be the finale for his music group, he said.
    “These kids who sang these songs did so with the purest intentions,” Hayes said, noting none were personally identified so they could simply be Newtown’s children.
    And he also applauded the school’s choir.
    “Two acts of kindness are better than one,” Hayes said.

  17. I guess I am eating my words about nothing in the local papers about the children’s choir singing at the super Bowl… from the Danbury, Ct Newstimes Jan 31st, 2013
    NEWTOWN — An anonymous donor has provided money so that as many as 26 members of the Sandy Hook Elementary School choir can perform “America the Beautiful” at the Super Bowl on Sunday.

    Talk of the invitation to the Superdome in New Orleans was circulating in the school district Wednesday, but school leaders were closed-mouthed about details.

    Parents and staff not attending the game were expected to receive information on the choir’s performance in the coming days.

    Some students from Sandy Hook and other Newtown schools earlier this month teamed up with Grammy-nominated singer Ingrid Michaelson to record “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” for the one-month anniversary of the Dec. 14 shooting.

    That recording, however, done privately through a local music program was not a school-sponsored choral event. The “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” tune is now on YouTube.

    The Superbowl invitation from the National Football League was for third- and fourth-graders at the school who will be rehearsing as a choir for the national sporting extravaganza between the San Francisco 49ers and the Baltimore Ravens.

    Parents and school representatives said Thursday that the Superbowl event and the YouTube song are not related.

    The Board of Education approved the donation for the Superbowl event as part of its consent agenda on Jan. 23. The amount of the donation was not in the minutes, and school officials interviewed this week were either unaware of the amount or unwilling to provide such details.

    First Selectman Pat Llodra said Wednesday she knew about the invitation and donation but did not have details. She said she simply forwarded the contact to Schools Superintendent Janet Robinson, who then forwarded the information to the board, which approved the gift.

    Messages left at both Sandy Hook School and for other school leaders, including central office administrators, were not returned Wednesday.

    “It’s an honor,” one local parent, who did not wish to be identified, said of the invitation to perform at the Superbowl.?

      1. This was posted on the NFL site 1/30, 2013:
        ~A little more than a month after the fatal shooting of 26 students and faculty at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., the NFL announced that the school will be represented in New Orleans for Super Bowl XLVII. The Associated Press reported Wednesday that the NFL will fly in the Sandy Hook chorus and their families to perform “America the Beautiful,” which will air live as part of CBS’ pregame show, just before Alicia Keys’ rendition of the national anthem. Since the Dec. 14 shooting rampage, the NFL has supported Newtown victims and survivors via charitable donations, moments of silence before games, a black-ribbon logo on helmets and “S.H.E.S.” decals on players’ equipment.~

        No mention anywhere of SHES students getting a local standing ovation or other acceptance after returning home from the Super bowl performance.

        http://articles.courant.com/2013-02-07/news/hc-newtown-choir-controversy-20130207_1_choir-superintendent-janet-robinson-newtown-youth-academy
        Excerpt:
        ~Monte Frank, whose children used to go to Sandy Hook Elementary, said he was happy to get a chance to watch both choirs perform. “Seeing the Sandy Hook chorus at the Super Bowl made me really proud,” said Frank. “And seeing [the other choir] sing ‘Over the Rainbow” … that made me really proud as well.”~

        http://articles.courant.com/2013-01-31/news/hc-newtown-superbowl-nfl-sing-20130131_1_sandy-hook-students-newtown-community-newtown-savings-bank
        Excerpt:
        ~The NFL is being protective of students’ privacy, McCarthy said. He declined to give the names of the students performing, their grades or ages, or to say where they were staying. “We were approached, and then we began working with the school administration,” McCarthy said. Sandy Hook students flew to New Orleans on Thursday, and the NFL is paying for their stay at a hotel. They are accompanied by adults, but McCarthy would not say who was in the group.~

  18. I searched NFL,com for anything on sandy hook school choir: The only entry is way down the list: This was the only thing I could find. Interesting to note that this contradicts that a private party paid for the trip, since it says the NFL are flying them there. The earliest date I can find anywhere but this one below that mentions the Sandy Hook choir singing at the Super Bowl is Jan 30th, 2013. This one says around mid January, the choir’s appearance was announced. I find it interesting the posted video was removed from this article: From NFL.com….

    A little more than a month after the fatal shooting of 26 students and faculty at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., the NFL announced that the school will be represented in New Orleans for Super Bowl XLVII.

    The Associated Press reported Wednesday that the NFL will fly in the Sandy Hook chorus and their families to perform “America the Beautiful,” which will air live as part of CBS’ pregame show, just before Alicia Keys’ rendition of the national anthem.

    Since the Dec. 14 shooting rampage, the NFL has supported Newtown victims and survivors via charitable donations, moments of silence before games, a black-ribbon logo on helmets and “S.H.E.S.” decals on players’ equipment.

    1. I find it interesting that the NFL announced the Sandy Hook School Choir would sing at the Super Bowl on Wednesday Dec 16, 2013. But it took 2 weeks for the press to mention it on Jan 30th, 2013… at least from searches I did, can the Gallery find any mention of the choir at the Super Bowl before Jan 30, 2013 ??????????????????

  19. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXeRPtj-tEU

    the gallery must see another FOIA hearing for Sandy Hook, this time with the superintendent. This should be called the freedom of information act obstructionist committee (FOIAOC) The idea there even needs to be a hearing on FOIA just infuriates me. That little snake Monte Frank with his beedy eyes and bald pate objects to routine questions that are sustained by the “judge” show the fix is in to obstruct information; not aid in the flow of it. The people of Connecticut should be appalled by what has gone down in Newtown, as well as the country. How long will this be allowed to go on by the people of Connecticut?

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