On December 14, 2012, a twenty-year-old resident of Newtown, Connecticut, walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School to shoot and kill twenty children and six staff members. As the day went on the media discovered that the shooter had also shot and killed his own mother in her home before going to the elementary school.
The police of Newtown still have not released a motive as to why the shooter targeted innocent children and their educators.
On January 2, 2013, the Sandy Hook Elementary School kids started back to school. Administrators say Chalk Hill Middle School, located in Monroe, Connecticut, has been transformed into the new Sandy Hook Elementary School. This was a way for the students and staff to return to school without entering a crime scene. During the renovations of Chalk Hill a swarm of volunteers pitched in to help make the transformation in time for the new school semester. A huge amount of time went into the renovations; among other things the floors were raised in the bathrooms so the small children could reach the toilets and cubbies were built to resemble those that were in Sandy Hook. (to give the students some sense of normalcy.)
On the opening day the school district held an open house for staff, students, and parents before the new semester of school started. It was at this open house that the students and staff were able to reunite, and the parents of the surviving children thanked the staff for protecting their children during the shooting.
Chalk Hill, the new home of Sandy Hook students, is also going to implement new safety precautions; one officer even claimed that Chalk Hill is probably the most secure school in America. The school is also working to ease the minds of the parents by allowing them, at least for a short time, to either come into the classrooms with their students or to sit in the gymnasium while their student is in class.
There is no doubt that Sandy Hook and the victims there were in everyone’s thoughts during the holiday season, and now, as they begin to take the first steps toward beginning anew the nation wishes them continued healing.
As of now, it is unknown whether or not the school in Monroe is a permanent home for the Sandy Hook students, but it looks as if they will be attending school there for an extended period of time. As for the Sandy Hook Elementary, it still remains a crime scene and no one is allowed into the school except for law enforcement personnel.
