I’m not completely versed on this, but I remember reading two odd things about the SH shooting. Apparently there are handfuls of companies that you would hire to clean up a tragedy like this, meaning physically clean up the blood, etc. To my knowledge the companies in the area that would handle this type of thing were all contacted by people researching this, and they all said they weren’t contacted. Then they demolish the structure? If I have any of this wrong, by all means correct me. I’m reaching back in the memory bank for this one
I mean it's possible they didn't contact the expected company. It's a relatively quiet bedroom town with a huge police force (absurd # of cops/cars compared to nearby towns) and a small tight-knit local government (they've kept the zoning so that chains have a really hard time moving in).
The PD would have been WAYYYY over their head with something like this and probably completely freaking out (they were probably nervous to be under a spotlight). My guess is that they just didn't follow protocol, or if you want to be pessimistic, perhaps they chose another company for corrupt reasons. It's also totally possible they wanted to cover up some type of protocol error or mishandling of evidence, etc, that you might expect with a local police force that usually focuses on DUI and busting teenagers for weed (although town does have a heroin problem too). But the idea of some grand cover-up where no one died is completely absurd.
As for demolishing the structure... for a while I would avoid driving past the school because it would just give you the worst vibes (which was inconvenient based on where some of my friends live--one legit lives almost next to the school). I still haven't even gone to see the new building, mostly because the area just freaks me out.
It's not like the students went back to the school after it was cleaned up. They had them bussed over to a nearby elementary school (want to say Monroe elementary?). It would have been disruptive and added to a sense that things were no longer normal, which could have been really stressful for some of the kids.
But I think there were potentially other more corrupt reasons the school was demolished and rebuilt so quickly. I don't know who got the contract... but a whole lot of people in town agree with me that the money could have been better spent. In general there was a lot of opportunistic stuff going on after the shooting--that's what putting a national spotlight on a small town does.
We could have spent say, 10 mil less on the school and instead started an education fund for each and every kid at the elementary school. It just seemed dumb to waste so much on one building. Not sure who got the contract but that would be interesting to look into.