In many ways, Friday’s public unveiling of the new, $50-million Sandy Hook Elementary School is the culmination of a balancing act.
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The community was given the opportunity Friday to tour the new 86,000 square-foot building.
The thought of those 26 people remains – through new safety features, like a gate at the front of the school and bulletproof glass windows.
Past and new Sandy Hook students will return to a building with an elevated ground floor, making it hard to see inside.
The new building was constructed on the same site, but further back on the property. Almost 400 students have enrolled at the school, which will teach students from preschool through fourth grade when it opens at the end of next month, the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Our role now, as adults and leaders, is to bring this new, handsome place into its rightful status as the SHS of the present and future”, said Newtown First Selectman Pat Llodra. For the first time in four years, Sandy Hook Elementary School is opening it’s doors to students and allowing them to create new memories – happier memories, for themselves.
Some of those who had attended the old school were among those to visit its replacement, saying the opportunity was cathartic.
After more than three years, the brand new Sandy Hook school is complete.
Melisa Horan found touring the new school with her now sixth-grade son cathartic.
After the December 2012 massacre that took the lives of 20 first-graders and six educators, the old Sandy Hook Elementary School was demolished.
Because of retirements and transfers, only about half the staff members from the original Sandy Hook are still with the school, he said.
“From the very first day, we were aware of just how important it was to build the best possible building for the students and the Newtown community”.
The new school will not have a prominent memorial to the Sandy Hook victims, and Erardi declined to say whether they will be remembered in some other way.
The district will provide returning students and staff with special mental health resources to help them cope, Erardi said.
There have been some tears, but I think after they spend an hour or so here, they feel like it’s going to be an unbelievable learning space for kids.
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Although the school has received national attention, Superintendent Joseph Erardi said he wants the school’s opening to be peaceful.
