“We could never ask a child to return to this school, or a teacher to return to this school,” McLaughlin said.
Tearing down schools after a mass shooting has become common enough that a federal grant process is available, according to Texas State Senator Roland Gutierrez.
“What kind of world do we live in that legislation has been created to raze these schools?” he said.
Other schools have also taken the path of destroying buildings after a mass tragedy.
“In many cases, these schools are closed or completely renovated in an effort to reduce the traumatic reminders they have become for members of the community,” said the
Violence Prevention Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
It is unclear when Robb Elementary School will be razed and if it will be replaced by another school or if a memorial or other building will take its place.
In the meantime, survivors of the attack will attend classes at other schools in the school district.
The district superintendent,
Hal Harrell, laid plans to make schools safer.
But some families still don’t feel comfortable returning and are being moved to other districts or taking online classes. A total of 416 students transferred out of the district and 136 signed up for virtual instruction,
according to KSAT-TV.Here’s a look at what happened to other schools after horrific attacks:
Sandy Hook Elementary School
Date of attack: December 14, 2012
Location: Newtown, Connecticut
Number of victims killed: 26 (including
20 children aged 6 and 7 and 6 adults)
What happened at school: The whole school was razed and rebuilt.
three weeks later
the terrible attackSandy Hook students
traveled to nearby Monroe and began taking classes at Chalk Hill Middle School, which
was no longer used as a college.
Four years after the massacre, a newly rebuilt elementary school in Sandy Hook opened its doors to students, including
fourth graders who were in kindergarten during the bloodbath.
Columbine High School
Date of attack: April 20, 1999
Location: Littleton, Colorado
Number of victims killed: 13 (including
12 students and a teacher)
What happened at school: Columbine High School closed for the remainder of the school year. Officials said
the attack damaged approximately 23,000 square feet of the school and left approximately
900 to 1,000 bullet and shrapnel impacts in walls and ceilings.
Four months later, at the start of the new school year, most of the school has reopened – except for the library, where most of the carnage took place. This
was demolished and
replaced by a newly built school librarycalled the library of hope.
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School
Date of attack: February 14, 2018
Location: Park, Florida
What happened at school: The students returned to campus two weeks after the massacre. But building 12 of the school, where most of the victims were killed,
was closed behind emergency tape with its windows covered.
A
new building later replaced the temporary classrooms the students were using following the massacre.
Santa Fe High School
Date of attack: May 18, 2018
Location: Santa Fe, Texas
What happened at school: The students returned 11 days after the bloodshed.
Even though
there were only two days left in the school yearsenior Kaitlyn Richards said she didn’t want her high school career to end with the massacre.
“I don’t know if we’ll ever be ready to go back to school,” she told CNN affiliate KTRK when day school resumed.
“But I don’t want this last day to be my last memory of my senior year. I just want to know that I can see all my classmates again.”
CNN’s Jennifer Henderson contributed to this report.
