Demolition Of Old Sandy Hook Elementary Will Be Kept Private
NEWTOWN, Conn. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Contractors demolishing the old Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., have been ordered to sign confidentiality agreements forbidding public discussion of the site, photographs or disclosure of any information about the building where 26 people were fatally shot last December.
Selectman Will Rodgers said officials want to protect the Newtown school where the 20 children and six educators were killed, The News-Times reported.
``It's a very sensitive topic,'' he said Monday. ``We want it to be handled in a respectful way.''
Project manager Consigli Construction has barricaded the property and intends to screen the perimeter to prevent onlookers from taking photographs. Full-time security guards will ensure the site is not disturbed.
Families of the victims and school staff visited the site, but public access is barred.
The precautions exceed those at other construction sites, town officials said.
Jim Juliano, a member of the Public Building and Site Commission, said he initially considered whether the heightened precautions might be excessive. But he believes extra vigilance is needed to shield Sandy Hook families and the community from exploitation.
Rodgers said the goal is to ensure the project is managed properly without interference from onlookers or the infliction of more pain on the community.
``Obviously, workers need access to the site, but inasmuch as we have put restrictions on our citizens, we don't really want those who are there somehow releasing information or recounting impressions of the site, given we are trying to move on, so to speak,'' Rodgers said.
Demolition is set to begin next week and be finished before the Dec. 14 anniversary of the shootings. A new school is expected to open by December 2016.
In May, 28 town elected officials voted unanimously in favor of a plan that would construct a new building in the same location. Town voters last month accepted a state grant of $49.3 million to demolish the school and build a new one.
Before the vote, some town residents said the school should be torn down because they couldn't imagine sending children back there. Others favored renovating the school, with some saying that tearing it down would be a victory for evil.
The 430 surviving students are attending a renovated school renamed Sandy Hook Elementary School in the neighboring town of Monroe.
On the morning of Dec. 14, 2012, gunman Adam Lanza, who had killed his mother at their Newtown home, went to Sandy Hook Elementary School and opened fire with an assault rifle, killing the 20 children and the six adults. He killed himself as police arrived at the school.
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