Newtown school demolition begins Friday

NEWTOWN, Conn. (WTNH)-- Demolition of the Sandy Hook Elementary school is scheduled to begin this Friday. As asbestos is removed, each wing of the nearly 60 year old building will come down.

Ellington based Bestech, a company that specializes in removing asbestos, is ready to start tearing down part of the school on Friday and through the weekend. A process that is expected to take five to six weeks. Fulltime security at the gated entrance insures that no curiosity seekers or media can get to the site.

The only reminder of what happened there are the twenty-six gleaming stars on the roof of the firehouse at the entrance to the school driveway.

According to the schedule for demolition, the section of the school where the shootings occurred will likely come down during the first two weeks of November with complete demolition expected by Thanksgiving. Aluminum and other metal parts of the building will be tracked by manifest to a smelter. All other parts will be ground up at the site.

"It might become part of the base for the new road or the foundation, or you know, the contractors will make the decision how best to use those materials, but they will not leave the site," said First Selectman, Pat Llodra/(R) Newtown.

First Selectwoman Pat Llodra says it's the only way to protect the families.

"It's the constant hurt that those families feel that...that site, which is such a tragedy for their families..would end up being iconic for some other family or some other person whose not of...you know..who might not have kindness in mind," said Llodra.

The plan is to have the school completely disappear by the first anniversary of the shootings the town is not planning any observance on December 14th, but is preparing for the media coverage starting this week.

"We're all struggling and working really hard I think to regain our footing and I think we'll emerge very strong. I have confidence in our community, but the daily pain of seeing this played out in the newspaper and all forms of media," said Llodra.

But Llodra knows that much more media coverage can only be expected as the demolition moves forward a police report is released sometime in the next few weeks and the anniversary.

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Newtown school demolition begins Friday