By Ben Brumfield, CNN
(CNN) — To erase some of the emotional scars left behind from the December shooting massacre at the Sandy Hook Elementary School, an advisory board wants the building torn down and replaced.
The Sandy Hook Task Force voted unanimously late Friday to recommend to the Newtown, Connecticut, board of education to build a new school on the site of the existing building.
Adam Lanza burst into the Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2012 armed with a semiautomatic Bushmaster .223 caliber rifle and two handguns. He opened fire killing 26 people, 20 of them children, before taking his own life.
He had previously shot his mother, Nancy Lanza, to death in their home, police said. She was a gun enthusiast, who kept a collection of guns, including assault rifles, in a lock box in her basement. Adam Lanza had a gun safe in his room, an investigation revealed.
The shooting reignited a national debate on gun control and the possibility of legal restrictions on assault rifles.
Students from Sandy Hook now attend Chalk Hill Middle School in the nearby town of Monroe. Part of the building was transformed to resemble an elementary school, and security was increased by adding new locks and surveillance cameras, a school official has said.
The school also enlisted the help of a comfort dog for the school children to bond with.
Sandy Hook’s task force had considered other alternatives, such as renovating the existing building or building a new school on a different site. Its recommendation must be approved by the school board then by a vote in a popular referendum, before the plans can be carried out.
CNN’s AnneClaire Stapleton contributed to this report
