I'll donate.....to that cost......

keep the building, spend the money on smaller class sizes instead

Why not keep the existing Sandy Hook School open AND build another school on a different site?

They should demolish the school and then rebuild it somewhere else.

While some are using the reasoning that the building didn't kill anyone, certainly the memory of the building will haunt the community for years. Psychologically I would think it would be easier for the children to go to a new school on a new site. I think choosing to rebuild the school was a good call.

The gravity of the crime that took place there is massive. It would be hard on the survivors, but even those who weren't there would be haunted by the stories.

I realize frugality is popular these days, but still.

The building didn't kill anyone. It's the same building as it was before the murders.

But the kids who went there, the teachers who taught there, and the parents who took their kids there are not the same.

It's just a building.

The building isn't responsible for the deaths.

What happened there was horrific, but tearing the building down will just cause more damage to the environment, and we can't start tearing every structure down where there's been a tragedy.

I think they should remodel/repaint to give it a somewhat different look, fix any security issues, and reopen. I also think it would be nice to do something to honor the lives that were lost--something positive, like planting trees or a garden, name the classrooms, or something of that nature. The little kids who died loved that school, from what I understand.

My brother was a teacher. He was killed three years ago this month in an accident. His students loved him. His death still affects them. Some still have a hard time just walking into his old room. What happened is Newton is a thousand times more traumatic. It's going to take a lot more than just paint.

I had a bad outcome with a patient nearly 8 years ago and still get nauseated when I have to go into that OR.

And I'm a nurse. I'm mad that no gun regulation was ordered. I know that those kids going to that school is now unacceptable, or should be. I'm well aware of the trauma of walking back into a place where such a horror happened. Look further down on the posts.

I know how little money is given to schools. I would rather that lots of money wasn't poured into getting rid of this building but enshrining it and finding another place for the kids to go to school would be good. I want those NRA bastards to have to see those beautiful but very dead children every day of their lives.

But no one here served on that board and hheard the residents' complete point of view.
Amiright

Can't say I blame them for wanting that building gone though. Those are some bad memories.

If so, then who can criticize the decision. I think that school district has some wealth. Nice place.

Demolishing it sends the wrong message.
Renovation speaks to the strength of the community to acknowledge the tragedy and move on.
That said, I understand the desire to lessen the pain by removing the reminder.
It just seems so wasteful.

I have the exact same thoughts.

I'm not against this idea per se, but I would like to see the money spent to bring gun laws back into the land of sanity or some place near it. If the standing memorial of Sandy Hook and those beautiful, beautiful children gunned down can't back the NRA right the fuck off, I fear nothing will.

I live about six towns away in the Terryville section of Plymouth. I agree with this decision. If the same thing happened at the school my girls go to I don't know if they could handle being there again. As the mom of elementary school kids I totally understand. I hope they can find the money to do this. You have to understand that the kids, families, the state and even our governor have been very traumatized by this. People need to start over.

And possibly rename the school, hopefully there shouldn't be a trace of reminder of the horror that took place at that school.

which was the site of a school shooting where 10 were shot and 5 died back in 2006 -

http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/471039_Nickel-Mines--5-Years-Later--A-daily-walk-for-Amish-on-path-of-grief-and-forgiveness.html?page=all

There are a couple survivors who are still recovering (one who is essentially paralyzed). Because the Amish tend towards privacy, this story faded from the memory but it illustrates some of the dynamics behind healing the emotional scars by washing clean (in the figurative sense) and starting over. By maintaining something with a sordid past, there would always be distractions from the primary focus of a school - learning.

In the Nickel Mines case, it was essentially not much more than a 1 room building, which the community rebuilt themselves... and in Sandy Hook, the cost of doing similar would be a major concern given the size and population differential... However for piece of mind and moving on, I would agree with them doing this...

into an outside garden area or another use room, and leave the rest of the school alone.

I know the Amish rebuilt their school but that was just a tiny one room school.

I don't know what condition the building is in. If its getting older, and they were planning to tear in down in a few years, then I have no problem with them moving the date up, and starting now.

If the school was newer, and built recently, I think it would be a waste of money.

Either way, its not my money, so put the issue on a ballot, and lot the voters decide on a levy.

The building is now full of Gun Spells which can only be cleansed by destroying the building itself. Just fixing the damage wouldn't get rid of the bad Gun Juju. Just as we must not anger the Magical Gun God by even pointing out truthful things about guns, we must not interfere with His divine providence. Gun-God has claimed those bricks as his own with Gun Power, and we must never use them for anything else now.

That was some mighty effective terrorist action in Newtown, apparently. Not only did many people die, but through the force of psychological terror, it's going to cause people to destroy their own buildings and needlessly spend too much money. The message? Terrorism works a charm!