At the Thursday, October 9, meeting of the Sandy Hook Permanent Memorial Commission, said Chairman Kyle Lyddy, the group heard from sixth grader Ben Paley and Sandy Hook School art teacher Leslie Gunn. Ms Gunn and Ben presented a plan for a small monument honoring the events of 12/14 and those who died that day. Ben was a fourth grade student at the time of the SHS shooting.

In an e-mail to The Newtown Bee, Mr Lyddy praised the young man for his courage in stepping before the 12-member panel to discuss what he called “an incredibly sensitive topic. Ben was well spoken and humble.” However, Mr Lyddy pointed out, the commission is not yet prepared to endorse any project or plan. The commission has been approached by many in and out of town people with plans for a permanent memorial, he said, but is focused on information gathering at this point.

The Sandy Hook Permanent Memorial Commission plans to spend the rest of 2014 completing Phase II of the information-gathering process, Mr Lyddy said. Phase II consists of the emergency services groups involved during and after 12/14, including State Police, EMS, Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire & Rescue, and the Newtown Police Department, as well as the teachers employed at SHS on 12/14.

Those groups have until October 31 to respond to the surveys provided.

“The groups have opted to give responses in different ways. For example,” said Mr Lyddy, “the Sandy Hook Fire Department has opted to give one answer on behalf of the full department. The Newtown EMS had sent the survey to all of its members, by e-mail, twice. The general consensus, from responding members, is that they strongly felt that the decision should be left to the 26 families. The commission is still awaiting individual responses from the State Police and the Newtown Police Department.”

Phase II of the information-gathering process is expected to get underway in January and run through February. During this phase, the commission will elicit information from the whole community, via a digital survey and in-person forums.

The 26 families directly affected by the events of 12/14 are communicated with by Mr Lyddy on a monthly basis, he said, “to assure they are up to speed on where we are in the process and to assure transparent and up-to-date information is shared.”