Covenant School students, faculty and staff are holding classes at the school’s original campus for the first time since the mass shooting that left six dead, including three children, on March 27, 2023.
For more than a year, classes have been held at the Brentwood Hills Church of Christ. During that time, the Covenant School has been under renovation and has made several security updates. Earlier this year, state lawmakers approved more than $200 million to support school security, including $14 million for private school security grants. So far, those grants have gone toward measures such as installing bullet-resistant film on windows and upgrading fences and security gates.
More: One year since the Covenant shooting, here’s how private school security has changed in Tennessee
“Our school community has been thoughtfully and prayerfully preparing for this transition back to campus for many months,” wrote a school spokesperson. “We know there will be many different emotions as we navigate the days ahead and our priority will continue to be the well-being and healing of our students, families, teachers, and staff.”
Mary Joyce, whose daughter is a survivor of the shooting, said that preparing to return to the school’s original campus was difficult, and that she and her family plan to take it one day at a time.
“If there’s one thing that we’ve learned over the last year, it’s that we are always under stress and a lot of emotions and just managing that and giving each other grace,” she said. “I would say that we are going in as a community, and we feel stronger together.”
Joyce has become a fixture at the Tennessee State Capitol over the past year, advocating for gun reform alongside a group of several other Covenant parents who have become regulars at committee meetings and floor sessions.
More: Parents, students and educators speak out against bill to arm Tennessee teachers
Most recently, they held a press conference on Monday to voice their opposition to HB 1202, a bill that would allow teachers and staff to carry guns at school, without notifying parents, students or their coworkers. Another Covenant mom, Sarah Shoop Neumann, penned an open letter, which has garnered over 4,300 signatures opposing the bill in just five days. That includes over 70 residents of Putnam County, which is represented by the sponsor of HB 1202, Republican Rep. Ryan Williams.
“While I strongly support armed security in our schools to protect our children, that responsibility cannot fall on those with direct student responsibility who must focus on maintaining shelter for the children safely and quietly,” said Neumann. “A teacher with a handgun is no match for a shooter with an AR-15, and the risks of having guns in classrooms is far too great.”
Neumann is still collecting signatures and plans to deliver the signed letter to members of House leadership this week, including Rep. Williams, Leader William Lamberth and Gov. Bill Lee.
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