Sandy Hook Elementary School students have returned to school on Jan. 3, twenty days after the tragic school shooting that left 20 children and six adults dead in Newtown, Connecticut.
Reuters reported that school resumed on Thursday for more than 400 students. The students were not returning to Sandy Hook Elementary but instead going to Chalk Hill Middle School which is in the town of Monroe, near Newtown. The school, which was not being used, has been refurbished for Sandy Hook students.
The school has a new security system and Monroe Police Department officers are patrolling the grounds.
"I think right now, we have to make this the safest school in America," Monroe Police Lieutenant Keith White said at a press conference on Wednesday, Reuters reported.
Parents were also allowed to accompany their children in the classroom and stay in the lecture room for as long as they wanted.
"In a way, it's like any other first day of school," said Andre Nikitchyuk to The NY Daily News, whose 8-year-old son attends Sandy Hook. "You get your back pack and breakfast and get ready. In another way it's different. What happened changed us all. It's very emotional."
Another mother Satra Arokium, 37, said to The New York Daily News . "It feels safe with the police presence. But then again, I thought the same of the other school."
Arokium added to The New York Daily News that her child was eager to get back to school. "She's excited for today," said Arokium. "Kids want to go back to school, and she wants to see her friends and teachers."
Gunman Adam Lanza, killed his mother before driving to Sandy Hook Elementary and gunning down students and teachers. Lanza shot himself and died as police arrived and officials have not yet released any official statement about his motive.
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