When Newtown children head to back to class this fall, they’ll be going to a brand-new, super-secure Sandy Hook Elementary School.
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The sign for the new Sandy Hook Elementary School at the end of the drive leading to the school is pictured in Newtown, Connecticut, U.S. July 29, 2016.
On Friday, media outlets and residents got a first look at the $50 million school that was built to replace the original building, where 26 people were shot and killed in December 2012. An open house for the new school, erected on the same site, is set for Friday, July 29, 2016.
A CT judge will hear arguments on whether gun maker Remington Arms’ company documents should be sealed from public view as it fights a lawsuit filed by families of some of the victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre.
Following many meetings, officials and residents chose to accept the money the state of CT offered the school district to build a new facility, and they made a decision to demolish the old building hoping to help erase the horrific images of the loss and pain that had occurred there.
The new Sandy Hook is a modern two-story building built with reinforced walls and bulletproof windows. The halls will be brimming with energy and activity again come August 2016, as the school reopens and fills with students.
“Once you got down to where the driveway opened up, there was a whole different feeling, at least for me”, Horan said.
Among the unique features of the new school are a pair of tree house spaces, breakout spaces nestled at the corner of the building that give an overhead view of the nearby forest.
The only sense of familiarity some of the returning students will have is Shelley the turtle, who’s waiting for school to start in her brand new aquarium. About 35 of them were in the building at the time, he said, attending the morning kindergarten session. Llodra said when students return, they will see their turtle and that “keeping something they love front and center” will give the children a sense of comfort.
The only obvious remembrance of the shooting was a green magnet on a refrigerator in one classroom that was created to resemble a memorial ribbon with the date of the shooting on it and the words, “We’ll always remember”.
“That is what a school should be”, said Moran, “the excitement of learning and seeing all the new stuff”.
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Erardi says the new school has state-of-the art security measures and was designed using input from the local community. Sadly, at St. Rose’s Cemetery, less than a mile from the school, there lay many first graders who will never return to school again.
