Gunman holding NY school principal hostage

PINE PLAINS, N.Y. - A town official says a gunman at an upstate New York high school has taken the principal hostage.

Pine Plains Town Supervisor Gregg Pulver tells CNN that students at Stissing Mountain High School are safe. The school is about 90 miles north of New York City.

The school remains on lockdown. Pulver says police are in contact with the gunman. He says the gunman is an adult, not a student, and is contained to one room with the principal.

Pulver says the school has about 500 students and 100 staff members.

Margaret Hart, who lives across the street from the school, says police cars are in the neighborhood and helicopters are flying overhead. She says the area around the school has a lot of woods and ``a lot of places to hide.''