Two memorials will be connected by a wreath when representatives from The National Teachers Hall of Fame visit the Sandy Hook Permanent Memorial on December 14.

Speaking ahead of the event, retired Newtown Public Schools administrator Dr Anthony Salvatore credited Executive Director at The National Teachers Hall of Fame Carol Strickland with the idea of connecting the National Memorial to Fallen Educators in Kansas symbolically with the Sandy Hook Permanent Memorial.

Salvatore said laying a wreath at the Sandy Hook Permanent Memorial will act “as kind of a closure piece to bring both [memorials] together.”

According to a release from The National Teachers Hall of Fame, the purpose of the visit is two-fold. First, it will observe the tenth year since 12/14 by remembering those lost, and secondly, it will unite the two memorials over a thousand miles apart.

The event is not open to the public and no time has been announced for the placing of the wreath.

According to The National Teachers Hall of Fame, it was after 12/14 and the deaths of 20 students and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School that 1,400 miles away in Emporia, Kansas, The National Teachers Hall of Fame began receiving phone calls and emails “with emphatic pleas to The National Teachers Hall of Fame from members who wanted to do something to honor their six colleagues.”

“At first, the plan was to honor them at induction ceremonies the following June, but that seemed too little and not soon enough,” the release reads. “But then in January of 2013, in Midland City, Ala., bus driver Chuck Poland was killed while trying to protect the students on his bus from a gunman. Seven educators slain in two months while simply doing the job they loved … working with America’s school children. It was felt that something much more permanent needed to be done to honor these heroic educators.”

It was then decided that The National Teachers Hall of Fame, the release shares, would design, raise the funds, and dedicate a memorial to fallen educators.

“Research began so that others who had fallen in the line of duty, through no fault of their own, through accidents or intentional violence while on duty in their school systems could be honored along with Dawn Hochsprung, Victoria Soto, Lauren Rousseau, Mary Sherlach, Rachel D’Avino, and Anne Marie Murphy,” the release reads. “The intensive research turned up 114 names for the planned memorial, which would consist of a paved patio surrounded by native limestone walls and two six feet by six feet black granite pieces, sculpted as books on which the name, location, and date of loss for each person would be etched in gold lettering.

“The ceremonial groundbreaking occurred in June of 2013, and the completed project was dedicated in June of 2014,” the release shares. “Guests from Newtown helped to unveil the memorial and spoke at the dedication ceremony. Each year in June, the memorial is re-dedicated to add names of educators who have recently been lost or those who were not discovered in the original research.”

Salvatore has attended each ceremony, according to the release.

He said this week that he has met visitors at the National Memorial to Fallen Educators and connected with others.

Salvatore said the National Memorial to Fallen Educators is the only memorial of its kind in the country. Since he started visiting the The National Teachers Hall of Fame, his new Kansas family grew.

“They really embraced the memory, particularly of the teachers who were killed,” Salvatore shared.

Salvatore described the National Memorial to Fallen Educators as large.

“It is very powerful,” said Salvatore.

When the National Memorial to Fallen Educators first opened it had two large tablets, and it now has three. Salvatore said the third tablet was added after the 2018 school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida.

People who visit the National Memorial to Fallen Educators can find each other, find support, and “know that the [educators] are not forgotten,” Salvatore reflected.

According to The National Teachers Hall of Fame there are 179 names on the three granite books. It received Congressional designation in 2018 as a national memorial, and it is the only national memorial in Kansas.

Ahead of the visitors’ arrival in Sandy Hook, Salvatore said he ordered a wreath that will be placed at the Sandy Hook Permanent Memorial. Laying the wreath will be done in silence, with quiet reflection that respects the privacy of others while honoring the six professionals whose names are inscribed on both memorials, in Emporia and in Sandy Hook.

The wreath, Salvatore said, will have six large white roses and 20 miniature white carnations to represent those lost ten years ago in Sandy Hook.

The effort to connect both memorials, Salvatore reflected, is important, because some fear the names of those lost will be forgotten. And efforts like this “keep the names alive. They are more than just statistics.”

According to The National Teachers Hall of Fame, the wreath will also include a plea: “No more names.”

Education Editor Eliza Van can be reached at eliza@thebee.com.