Demolition of Sandy Hook Elementary School begins ten months after massacre

(CBS/AP) NEWTOWN, Conn. - The top elected official in Newtown says workers have begun demolishing the elementary school where a gunman killed 20 children and six adults.

Pictures: Conn. elementary school shooting

First Selectman Pat Llodra says small-scale demolition is underway at the Sandy Hook Elementary School building and the project will take several weeks.

"The process of demolition is incremental, staged precisely, and executed carefully. There is no 'wrecking ball' action; it is rather a piece by piece, section by section removal," Llodra said in a statement Thursday.

Watch: Sandy Hook victims remembered by family, friends

The gunman, Adam Lanza, killed his mother at home before going to the school Dec. 14, 2012. He committed suicide as police arrived.

CBS New York reports a task force of 28 Newtown elected officials voted in May to demolish the school and build a new one.

Newtown has accepted a $50 million state grant to raze the building and build a new school, expected to open by December 2016. Students have been attending classes in a neighboring town.

Contractors are being asked to destroy materials to eliminate nearly every trace of the building. They were also required to sign confidentiality agreements that ban them from publicly discussing the site and the building.

Complete coverage of the Newtown school shooting on Crimesider