Metro

Sandy Hook parents’ promise to the nation

ONE MONTH LATER: Jimmy Greene and wife Nelba Marquez-Greene honor slain daughter Ana yesterday in calling for increased gun safety. (
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A foundation started by residents of Newtown, Conn., called for a national dialogue about gun control yesterday, as the town marked the one-month observance of the school massacre.

Sandy Hook Promise members vowed to transform public outrage into action to “make our communities and our nation a safer, better place.”

The group, named for Sandy Hook Elementary School, where the shootings took place, pledged to hold debates on wide-ranging safety issues.

“We want Newtown to be remembered for change, not for tragedy,” group co-founder Tom Bittman said at a news conference in the town.

Parents of some of the 20 slain pupils photos of their children. Some had not appeared in public since the Dec. 14 rampage, which also left six school staffers dead.

“It’s a sad honor to be here today,” said Nicole Hockley, whose 6-year-old son, Dylan, was among the children killed.

“I do not want someone sharing my experience and [to be] consoling another parent next time. I do not want a next time.”

At least half a dozen pairs of parents of children slain in the attack appeared on stage.

“On Friday, December 14th, I put two children on the bus and only one came home,” said Nelba Marquez-Greene, whose 6-year-old daughter, Ana Marquez-Greene, was slain.

“I pray that no mother, father, grandparent or caregiver of children ever have to go through this pain.”

A group of children from Sandy Hook will be performing a rendition of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” on ABC’s “Good Morning America” today with folk artist Ingrid Michaelson, the musician tweeted yesterday.

The children recorded the song earlier this month at the Connecticut recording studio of former Talking Heads stars Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz, according to Rolling Stone.

The song will be available on iTunes and Amazon, with all proceeds going to Newtown Youth Academy and the United Way of Western Connecticut.

Meanwhile, the nearby town of Stratford, Conn., voted to name a new primary school after slain Sandy Hook teacher and Stratford native Victoria Soto.

Soto, 27, died after leading her first-grade students to safety and confronting crazed gunman Adam Lanza during the massacre.