The Newtown, Conn. public school system was awarded a $1.9 million federal grant Monday to help students, staff and affected families recover from the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December 2012.
The Department of Education grant will help pay for grief support for those who lost peers and siblings in the Sandy Hook shooting, classroom-based therapies, academic support for students whose performance has declined since the shooting, and interventions for students suffering from post-traumatic stress.
The grant was issued through the Department of Education’s Project School Emergency Response to Violence (Project SERV), which provides money to school districts and universities that have “experienced a significant traumatic event and need resources to respond, recover, and re-establish safe environments for students,” according to a press release from the Department of Education. The money comes on top of $1.3 million grant given in May 2013.
“We will do whatever we can to continue assisting and supporting the healing and recovery of Newtown,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.