Amish to build new school near shooting site

updated 9:02 p.m. ET Nov. 4, 2006

NICKEL MINES, Pa. - The Amish community has decided to build a new school within sight of the now-razed schoolhouse where a man last month shot 10 girls, killing five.

Relatives of the girls, the teacher and school board members met at the Bart Township Fire Hall on Wednesday to approve building the one-room school on a parcel carved out of an Amish farmer’s field.

Security measures have been discussed for the new building, including a chain-link fence, doors with peepholes and chains, and a paging system connected to police. It is unclear whether any of the measures will be implemented.

It was also unclear when the school will be built. Since the shootings, 15 boys and two girls — including one of the girls who was shot — have been attending school in a nearby business.

The site is near the razed West Nickel Mines Amish School, where Charles Carl Roberts IV barricaded himself inside and shot the girls, then killed himself.

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