2012年在桑迪·胡克（Sandy Hook）小学枪击事件杀死20名学生和6名成年人的枪击事件发生后，罗伯特·D·米切尔（Robert D. Mitchell）在拆除之前无法进入Newtown Conn。70岁的米切尔回忆说：“我是建筑师 - 您只是走进建筑物，但我做不到。”
But Newtown’s volunteer public-building and site commission chairman was a pillar for the community during an emotional three-and-a-half-year project to build a new school. The 29-year town resident related to everyone on the project, from tradespeople to the community. Owner of a 10-person architecture firm specializing in hi-tech research and hospital facilities, he paid for college with a summer side gig as an ironworker. His now-adult children also attended Sandy Hook.
米切尔（Mitchell）是项目团队与该镇55人建筑小组委员会之间的完美联络。“他是那个岩石，使一切都继续前进，人们可以看着他说，‘鲍勃既酷又平静。我会很酷和冷静。’
这项耗资5000万美元的国家资助的快速通道项目必须在2016年8月之前完成，届时学校临时住房学生将不再可用。米切尔说，该镇将返回该州约200万美元。
Mitchell helped guide every aspect of the project, from the town’s agonizing decision to rebuild on the site (but not on the old school’s footprint) to hardening the 88,000-sq-ft structure without retraumatizing survivors and parents with heavy-handed security. Mitchell also helped state and federal officials write new guidelines for school security and has lectured on the project’s challenges. He fielded hundreds of calls from reporters and still takes inquiries from school administrators across the country. Mitchell always tells them their school doesn’t have to keep intruders out entirely but at bay until first responders arrive.
虽然从战略上使用了隐藏的摄像头，运动传感器和防撞窗户和墙壁，但桑迪钩小学依赖于被动安全措施。其中包括建筑物前400英尺长的生物厂，以防止人们开车或接近其窗户。
But more important than a new, secure school, the building process itself was part of the town’s healing. “Personally, my own feeling is that, in three to five years, we are going to say, ‘Boy, we overdesigned the security.’ But we needed it when we did it,” Mitchell says.
Mitchell pushed for a qualification-based bidding process that bucked the state’s typical process, which preferred the lowest bidder. The qualification-based process also allowed Consigli Construction to be hired early enough to participate in design meetings. Mitchell said Connecticut is considering adopting the qualification-based process for more projects.
He also ensured the community had a voice in the process. When designers omitted $20,000 worth of steel, Mitchell let the town committee complain to designers before he explained to them that change orders are natural in accelerated projects. “Sometimes the committee wants to hear from one of their own,” Brotman says.
米切尔（Mitchell）也总是为项目团队提供服务。“他一直在说，‘在桑迪胡克（Sandy Hook）餐厅见我早餐，’”米切尔通常每周在学校花40个小时，雇用了三名建筑师来跟上自己公司的工作量，包括一家价值8000万美元的医院。
米切尔（Mitchell）还依靠委员会成员，他们没有被要求从盘子上工作。他说：“他们自动在那里。”
纽敦学校校长乔·埃拉迪（Joe Erardi）表示，该项目在米切尔（Mitchell）的全圈中，当时在八月开始上课之前，安装了三个大风铃。埃拉迪补充说，米切尔从自己的口袋里付出了钱。建筑师说：“我对走进[新]学校时的感觉很担心，这更接近兴高采烈。”
