She spoke about how the community made a decision to move forward with plans to rebuild the school on the same street but on a different location than its predecessor, Sandy Hook Elementary School, which was demolished following the mass shooting that left 27 dead on December 14, 2012. The new school will educate a little less than 400 students from prekindergarten through to the fourth grade. The school opened for the first time on Friday to show off the school’s new safety features and satiate the public’s curiosity – so when the students go back to school on August 29, they can go back in peace. “It was important to listen to them”, said Julia McFadden, an architect with Svigals + Partners and the project manager.
Advertisement
In addition, the ground floor was built slightly elevated, making it hard for possible perpetrators to see inside classrooms.
One of the playgrounds of the newly constructed Sandy Hook Elementary School is unveiled by officials in Newtown, Connecticut, U.S. July 29, 2016. All the doors and windows are bulletproof.
“We wanted to create a space at the highest levels to honor every victim, every student, every family”, said Newtown First Selectwoman Patricia Llodra during a media tour of the school on Friday. About 390 students will attend the school.
About 35 returning students were in kindergarten at the time of the shooting and are now returning as fourth graders.
Because of retirements and transfers, only about half the staff members from the original Sandy Hook are still with the school, he said. Several victim’s family members, including family of one of the teacher’s slain, are now engaged in a lawsuit against the gun manufacturer whose weapons was used in the Sandy Hook shooting.
The district will provide returning students and staff with special resources to help them cope, Erardi said. She mentioned the green glass mural’s message, which she said will convey a message for all who enter the school.
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.
In one classroom, a refrigerator magnet reads “We are Newtown, we choose love”.
Numerous victim’s families say the design team has been great about keeping them updated on the progress of the new school and asking for their input, but it’s still too tough for them to get involved. The school will be more about the future than the past.
Advertisement
A sign, right, reads, “Sandy Hook Elementary 12.14.12 We’ll Always Remember”, in a classroom of the new Sandy Hook Elementary School, Friday, July 29, 2016, in Newtown, Conn.
