To the editor:
Mine was the sort of elementary school whose hallways were lined with child-appropriate motivational posters: “Learning is FUN-damental;” “Reading gives you wings;” “Music is a universal language.”
We had a thriving Cultural Arts program, which brought performers of every sort to our little auditorium and taught us to make instruments from recycled materials and got us to move our bodies in rhythm. Our principal was a jazz guitarist. Our teachers came to our soccer matches. We enjoyed a community that was enriched by the arts, literature and effortless education. Among the five elementary schools in Newtown, Connecticut, Sandy Hook School was praised for it’s commitment to the arts, literacy and its students. When we graduated from fifth grade and moved up to the Middle School and High School, the values from Sandy Hook came with us. Through outreach programs, we experienced diversity and had student-curated discussions about sociology, community, and the differences that bring us together. The cliques in our high school didn’t alienate each other; I never once witnessed a fight, and we enjoyed federal awards for educational excellence. 
On December 14, 2012, a gunman entered Sandy Hook School and massacred a kindergarten class. Nothing could have prepared the school for this unthinkable event. Here in Warren, I watched in horror as the events of that day unfolded. Slowly though, the horror shifted to pride for my hometown as the community I grew up in came together and met tragedy with the same values they had instilled in me 20 years earlier. Sandy Hook’s answers to this formidable tragedy didn’t involve building a fortress of a school. They didn’t involve arming teachers. They didn’t involve perpetuating fear. In the place of the old school, a new one was built, using architecture and beauty to create an institution that is safer, more secure, and more conducive to the important parts of childhood- learning, playing and being safe while doing so.
Right now, the Warren Town Council has it in their power to allow concealed carry in K-12 schools.
The thought that individuals could legally carry a concealed weapon onto a school campus is atrocious. Firearms in the hands of civilians do not protect our children; they create a dire risk and perpetuate a culture of fear. Schools should be safe havens of education and experience. Please do not put our children and educators at risk by allowing concealed carry on school campuses.
MorganEve Swain
Water Street
This letter was also mailed to members of the Warren Town Council.