Students from Sandy Hook Elementary School were set to return to class on Thursday, three weeks after a massacre at their school in Newtown, Connecticut left 20 children and six adults dead.
The children would not, however, be attending classes at the same school, which police have said will remain closed at least until their investigation is complete.
Instead, the students will travel 11 kilometres south to Chalk Hill Middle School in the town of Monroe. The school, which the Hartford Courant newspaper said had been closed for nearly two years, has been refurbished and renamed Sandy Hook Elementary.
Signs reading "Welcome Sandy Hook Elementary Kids" were printed in green and white, the school's colours, and posted along the new bus route.
Donna Page, the former principal of Sandy Hook who returned from retirement to the position after her successor, Dawn Hochsprung, was killed in the December 14 massacre, told parents in a letter that "the towns of Monroe and Newtown are working night and day to ensure the facility is safe, secure, and fully operational for our return."
"I want parents and families enduring the loss of their precious children to know their loved ones are foremost in our hearts and minds as we move forward. We recognize your needs are paramount in our preparations and planning," Page wrote.
The alleged shooter, Adam Lanza, is accused of murdering his mother at their home before heading to Sandy Hook, where he killed himself.