On December 14, 2012 tragedy struck Newtown, Connecticut when 20 year-old Adam Lanza, of Newtown, took the lives of 25 children and adults, including his mother and eventually himself. It was an event that shook the nation and would leave parents everywhere confounded.

Teachers and students are still unable to teach or learn in the building, which will forever hold memories of a day that should have never taken place. Since that horrific event, the 400 Sandy Hook Elementary students have been being schooled in a vacant building in nearby town Monroe, Connecticut.

The town of Newtown has voted and decided to tear down and rebuild the school, section by section, piece by piece- not with a wrecking ball. Officials want the tearing down to be finished by the anniversary of the shooting. The entire project is expected to be finished by December 2016.

The Newtown Board of Education thanked voters via Twitter, saying, “Thank you Newtown Voters for showing up at the polls, in force, to accept the State offer to pay for building Sandy Hook School!” It was a town-wide affair to put these memories in the past and move forward with hope.

The state of Conn. has granted nearly $50 million towards the rebuilding. All workers involved in the construction are required to sign confidentiality agreements that they are not to take any items or memorabilia from the site.

The new school will not be built in the same spot as the old, but close by. Instead, in its place, will be a memorial for the children and teachers who perished. Parents and children all over the nation will keep the Sandy Hook Elementary victims in their prayers on December 14.