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STUDENTS AT THE elementary school where a gunman massacred 26 children and teachers last month are returning today to classes at an alternative campus described by police as “the safest school in America.”
Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut has been closed since the 14 December tragedy in which a 20-year-old local man shot 20 small children and six staff members before committing suicide.
Survivors were finally ready to start their new academic year in the nearby town of Monroe, where a disused middle school has been converted and renamed from its original Chalk Hill to Sandy Hook.
A sign for Chalk Hill School in Monroe where school resumes for students of Sandy Hook. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
Newtown schools superintendent Janet Robinson told a televised press conference near the school yesterday that some 80 people worked at transforming the building into “a very cheerful elementary school.”
“It has been renamed Sandy Hook School, so we can carry on our traditions,” she said. “The children are coming in. They’re so excited to see the teachers. The students coming in completes a circle.”
To ease the transition for traumatized witnesses of the massacre, teachers have brought with them furniture and belongings from the old school, Robinson said.
Lieutenant Keith White, from the Monroe Police Department, told the press conference that numerous extra security measures were being taken, including “stopping every vehicle that comes onto the campus.”
“I think right now it has to be the safest school in America,” he said.
Families were invited to inspect the campus yesterday and acting principal Donna Page, who replaces the slain school head Dawn Hochsprung, said “the facility is safe, secure and fully operational.”
Page said parents would be allowed to stay in the school when it opens for classes, to provide reassurance to their children.
The shootings, in which the killer wielded a semi-automatic assault-style rifle, provoked a major national debate on gun control and a promise from President Barack Obama to back a bill outlawing military-type weapons.
The shooter, Adam Lanza, was laid to rest over the weekend after his father, a tax executive, retrieved his body from the authorities last week, a family spokesman said.
Lanza’s mother, whom he shot at their home just ahead of the school massacre, was buried in New Hampshire last month.
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My heart goes out to them all. I wish them all the best for the future, their lives have been changed utterly.
I am just happy to hear that the surviving children are starting to get their lives as back to normal as they can right now. Its going to take a long time for the emotional scars to heal, but returning to school even in a new one is a step forward. Best of luck to you all. As for the old school demolish it and build a library in commemoration of the children who died and their brave teachers who tried to protect them, atleast then their work as educators can continue.
School shootings in America and a factor that is been overlooked. Prescribed psychoactive medication which is used widely in America on children. And drugs like Ritalin, which has similar chemical properties to cocaine.
Michael Moore – Reveals the real cause of Columbine. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04UqzYOdGNs
Ritalin is actually a form of speed not cocaine.
I agree Aine,
While I’m not an expert on the chemical ingredients in these drugs, it seems they are all ‘mind altering’; sometimes with tragic consequences.
Adam Lanza was a 20 year old who allegedly suffered from some sort of personality disorder, and medicated accordingly. Yes, God love all the little children and their teachers who were tragically annihilated by Adam Lanza, but does anyone not feel compassion for a young guy with mental health difficulties? Is the fact that thousands of people believe that it’s the drugs that causes the problems, not the illness, an important issue that needs investigating?
A petition was sent to the White House demanding a ‘formal and public investigation into the relationship between the FDA, the Pharmaceutical industry, psychiatric drugs and treatments, and the violent actions of the shooters for the last 20 years.’ The White House responded, without actually referring to the main issue, the underlying relationship of psychiatric drugs causing violence. https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/launch-federal-investigation-relationship-between-school-shootings-and-psychiatric-drugs/25QgKXBc
Without an investigation, we will never get to the bottom of why these tragedies occur. My stance: I am off the opinion that psychiatric drugs are killing people; causing numerous suicides and cases of violence each year.
Leonie Fennell
@Sharon. I am not a pharmacist. Here is an article from The Guardian on Ritalin (Methylphenidate). It also seems to come in the name Equasym.
“Children’s drug is more potent than cocaine”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2001/sep/09/health.medicalscience
“The study was commissioned to understand more about why Ritalin – which has the same pharmacological profile as cocaine …”
I agree with what @Leonie says in her comment.
The damage been done by prescribed psychoactive medication and their link to school shootings and other tragedies: http://www.cchr.org/videos/psychiatrys-prescription-for-violence.html
[Never stop of change medication without consulting a good doctor, due to the dangers of withdrawal]
I admire the parents and students and teachers for getting back to routine . It must be so very difficult for them all.
I wonder if Lanza got a good turn out at his funeral?
“Newtown gunman Adam Lanza’s father claims body from funeral home”:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/dec/31/father-newtown-adam-lanza-body
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