Proposed plans for the new Sandy Hook Elementary School are moving forward, with construction possibly starting this fall, the Newtown Bee reported
The heavily scrutinized project has been winding through the local approval process and will now go forward for state review. Svigals + Partners of New Haven is the architect.
The 87,160-square-foot school would include 23 classrooms and other facilities for students from pre-k to fourth grade. Voters approved a $49 million plan last year that called for using a state grant to demolish the former school and design and construct a replacement.
The school, which is expected to be ready for the 2016-2017 school year, will include “three classroom wings, two of which are (two)-stories, which extend like fingers of an open hand on the site,” according to a report from the architect. There are three courtyards separating the wings, and overlooking a courtyard from the second floor of the wings are intimate learning spaces designed as sort of “tree houses,” according to the report.
The former school was the location of a mass shooting that killed 26 students and staff.
