The 200 young children enrolled at the Covenant School, a private Christian elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee, start each day at the chapel and study the Bible twice a week.
“The beauty of a PreSchool-6th school is in its simplicity and innocence,” the introductory paragraph of the school’s website reads. “Students are free to be children.”
On Monday, the school became the site of the latest mass shooting in the United States, when a 28-year-old former student opened fire with an assault weapon, killing three children and three adults before being shot dead by the police.
The three pupils killed were all nine years old: Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs and William Kinney.
The adults were head of school Katherine Koonce, 60, a pickleball enthusiast, who had told the Nashville Tennessean that she added the sport to the school’s physical education initiatives; Cynthia Peak, who the police said was believed to be a substitute teacher; and custodian Mike Hill, both 61.
The carnage made a stark and horrible contrast to the images of everyday life on the school’s website and Facebook page.
Just a day before the shooting, administrators posted on Facebook pictures of staff sharing gifts and snacks as they celebrated the impending birth of the son of the assistant head of school.
The school also posted a notice that it was looking to hire two new employees – a kindergarten aide and a fourth-grade teacher. And photos proudly showed boys competing in the opening day of the school’s first golf season at the local Cheekwood Golf Course.
“Go Knights!” the posting cheered.
“Great job, boys,” a community member wrote.
For Ms Megan Hill, the day’s agony unfolded over six long hours, marked by posts on Facebook in which she identified herself as the niece of one of the victims.
“Shooting at the school where my Dad, my uncle and my stepmom work please pray right now,” she wrote at about noon local time.
Six hours later, she posted an update.
“I’m just in shock and disbelief,” wrote Ms Hill, who did not respond to requests for comment from Reuters. “My heart is broken I do not understand why someone would shoot up a school with precious babies inside.”
“My uncle lost his life in this shooting today,” she wrote. “My moms brother Lord help me and my family please pray for all my cousins.”
The school is affiliated with Covenant Presbyterian Church, part of an evangelical movement that branched off from the more liberal Presbyterian Church in 1981. It offers enrichment classes in art, science and technology, leadership and music.
The school’s motto is “intentionality, authenticity, curiosity”, according to its website, which is filled with video images of smiling students singing, dancing and tumbling in a gymnasium. Its focus, the website says, is on “shepherding hearts, empowering minds and celebrating childhood”.
Classes are small, with an average size of 12 students, about a quarter of whom receive financial aid, the website says. Tuition starts at US$11,500 (S$15,200) per year for kindergarten and rises to US$16,500 for fifth and sixth grades.
No one answered the phone or responded to emails at the school on Monday.
Following the shooting, President Joe Biden called on Congress to pass an assault weapons ban.
“We have to do more to stop gun violence. It’s ripping our communities apart,” Mr Biden said at the White House.
“I call on Congress again to pass my assault weapons ban.”
Mr Biden, who is a Democrat, has repeatedly called for a renewed assault weapons ban and stricter rules on gun sales, measures that need to pass Congress.
The House of Representatives is controlled by Republicans; any new gun safety legislation is unlikely this year, key lawmakers say.
“How many more children have to be murdered before Republicans in Congress will step up and act to pass the assault weapons ban, to close loopholes in our background check system or to require the safe storage of guns?“ White House spokesman Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters before Mr Biden spoke.
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