US students who escaped massacre to get new school

MONROE, Connecticut (AP) - The children who escaped last month's shootings at a Connecticut elementary school will be returning to classes in a neighbouring town in a refurbished school now named after their old one, school officials said on Wednesday.

Newtown Superintendent of Schools Janet Robinson announced that the students' new school, the former Chalk Hill Middle School in Monroe, has been renamed Sandy Hook Elementary School. She said the Sandy Hook staff made that decision.

"That's who they are. They're the Sandy Hook family," Ms Robinson said after a news conference at a park in Monroe a few kilometres from the school, which will open for classes on Thursday morning. An open house was held for parents and students on Wednesday.

Ms Robinson added that renaming the Chalk Hill school will allow staff and students to keep "their identity and a comfort level". The school where the shootings occurred remains closed and guarded by police. Newtown officials haven't decided yet on the building's future.