Residents debate fate of Sandy Hook school

NEWTOWN, Conn. -- Talk about Sandy Hook Elementary School is turning from last month's massacre to the future, with differing opinions on whether students and staff should ever return to the building where a gunman killed 20 first-graders and six educators.

Some residents say the school should be demolished and a memorial built there in honor of those killed Dec. 14. Others believe the school should be renovated and the areas where the killings occurred removed. That's what happened at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., after the 1999 mass shooting.

A public meeting on the building's future drew about 200 people to Newtown High School yesterday afternoon, with another meeting set for Friday.

Town officials also are planning private meetings with the victims' families to hear their views.

Yesterday's meeting was an emotional gathering, with many speaking in favor of keeping the school. Opinions were mixed, but most agreed that the Sandy Hook children and teachers should stay together. They are now going about seven miles away in a neighboring town to a school that was renamed Sandy Hook Elementary School.

"I have two children who had everything taken from them," said Audrey Bart, whose two children weren't injured in the shooting. "The Sandy Hook Elementary School is their school. It is not the world's school. It is not Newtown's school. We cannot pretend it never happened, but I am not prepared to ask my children to run and hide. You can't take away their school."

But fellow Sandy Hook parent Stephanie Carson said she couldn't imagine ever sending her son back to the building. "I know there are children who were there who want to go back," Carson said. "But the reality is, I've been to the new school where the kids are now, and we have to be so careful just walking through the halls. They are still so scared."