What Do You Think Newtown Should Do?

Honestly, I can't begin to tell a horrified, heartbroken community what *they* should do. I will say this: after the shooting at Clackamas Town Center last year (which is pretty much where I spent a chunk of my teens in Portland, hanging out and working at the mall), I don't want to go back there. I wasn't there when it happened, I was not related to the victims and didn't know them (though I know people who knew them)....

I cannot imagine the heartbreak and shake-up of the Newtown community as they go forward in making the decision; I hope they come to it peacefully. If it were me, I'd level the old school, create a memorial there and find a more emotionally neutral site to rebuild. Kids need a separation of their school (which should feel safe) and any sort of memorial shouldn't be within sight of the school itself. The kids need that space, as do teachers and adult staff and others in the community.

Renovate. Our high school was just renovated/rebuilt while our kids went to school there. My oldest went through the old one and my youngest came in when it was finished. It's like they went to two different high schools! One 50 yrs old and one brand new.

I couldn't possibly say I understand how the parents of victims feel. I would probably sent my older children elsewhere if possible.

A fresh coat of paint and a positive spin should do it.
My 2 cents...
LBC

Ultimately what we think doesn't matter.

But I can say this: Over the past weekend we were at Virginia Tech, where a student in 2007 walked into a classroom and shot students and professors (after shooting two students in a dorm). He killed 31 people, including himself. The building where he shot 28 of them was immediately closed, as you would expect. It did reopen after extensive renovation and the classroom areas are no longer classrooms -- Va. Tech now uses that building for offices and laboratories. So no one ever again will attend a class in that building (Norris Hall) or have to sit at a desk and wonder, "Is this what it felt like to be sitting a desk in a classroom here that day?"

The building was not razed because as someone said, destroying the builidng would not erase what happened that day. And the buildiing contained specialized laboratories that are replicated nowhere else on the campus. Some students were unable to work on research for months while the building was closed, delaying their degrees and their theses.

The point is that Va. Tech. managed to be both sensitive to the families of the dead and sensitive to the feelings of the living while also recognizing that the buildiing was not somehow at fault. Yes, it becomes a reminder but it also becomes a memorial.

At Newtown, they possibly could convert the classroom space where the shootings took place to other uses so it would never be a classroom area again. That might also require the school to build new classroom space at another place in the building. It's one way to say "We didn't let the bad guy win" because, to me, knocking down the whole building is doing just that -- letting the killer win. But the reality is also that knocking down the entire building and rebuilding there or elsewhere could create a huge strain on the school system's finances that will affect the Newtown kids and others in their system for years to come. That too would be lettiing the bad guy win. If they can keep the school as a symbol of carrying on, and not use the exact areas of the killings as classrooms any more, that would be a good option, I think -- but that's only what I think, and I'm not one of the parents.

My daughter had events to attend at a building right next to Norris Hall and yes, it did go through my mind that "that's where it happened." But seeing the vitality of the Va. Tech students, and the beautiful memorial directly in front of Norris, was really touching.

I'm betting none of us can even imagine the "best" case scenario here.

Whatever they do, I think it should include a memorial.

Renovate the building. Create an entire new layout with different colors, decos etc.

You want me to imagine myself as a parent of one of the victims? Really? No thanks.

eta
Bad day? Because I didn't answer your question the way you wanted me to? So much for actually looking for differing opinions...

Living near Columbine, I can say that renovating the building seemed to suffice. Time does seem to heal somewhat (of course this is relative to one's involvement in the matter). No one old enough to remember it drives by there without thinking about what happened, no matter how briefly. But knowing the school was redone a bit seems to give it some distance. Definitely a memorial is in order as well. The Columbine one is about 1/3 of a mile from the school. Tough choice. But ultimately I would say give the parents the vote and go with it.

Wow, it would be so hard to face this decision..definitely allow the parents to send in suggestions. And also be given some options.. Allow them to be heard.

I think being included would be the most important art of this..

i think the parents of the victims should decide if all options are real.

i would think renovate but i cant imagine what it feels like to be a parent that lost your kid with another kid still at that school and have to walk those halls and relive it every day. i think they should be the ones who get to decide. or perhaps they can choose to have their kids go to another school in the district even if they are out of bounds if that would make them feel better if they are going to still use that location

so yea thats my vote. renovate but have a program that allows parents of victims decide if they want to use another school in the district for their surviving kids and have buses who will pick those kids up and take them if need be

I think that it is impossible for those who have not lived in Newtown to have an understanding about how Newtown is feeling about this building. If the adults cannot bear to be in that building, they shouldn't have to work there. I have a feeling that they won't want to put the children through going back into the school either...