The tragic shooting of 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., felt particularly personal to many students and teachers, including fourth-grade teacher Jaime Hunt at Higley Unified School District’s Cortina Elementary School in Queen Creek.

Like the rest of the country, Ahwatukee Foothills karate studio owner David Hays was shocked and saddened by the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut last month.

Immediately following the December shooting at Connecticut’s Sandy Hook Elementary School, aggressive debates on school security, mental health, gun safety and the national conscience as a whole began to dot the U.S. political and media landscapes.

NEWTOWN, Conn. — A man opened fire Friday inside the Connecticut elementary school where his mother worked as a teacher, killing 26 people, including 20 children, as youngsters cowered in their classrooms and trembled helplessly to the sound of gunfire reverberating through the building.

NEWTOWN, Conn. — A man opened fire Friday inside the Connecticut elementary school where his mother worked as a teacher, killing 26 people, including 20 children, as youngsters cowered in their classrooms and trembled helplessly to the sound of gunfire reverberating through the building.

This message was released Friday by the Mesa Unified School District:

Eleven days until Christmas and our hearts are broken by the senseless killing of children and teachers in Sandy Hook Elementary School. Families changed forever, robbed of joy and happy memories in the most beautiful of seasons. Christmas is truly a child’s holiday. The love, the joy, the excitement -- it’s a holy time, a fun time, with Santa Claus, elves and presents.