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Obama left whiteboard note to Newtown High School [PHOTO]

Two teachers at Newtown High School, where the vigil for the slain Sandy Hook students and teachers was held Sunday, left a note for President Obama on a classroom whiteboard. They were surprised and pleased to see he wrote back.
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President Barack Obama speaks at an interfaith vigil for families of the victims as well as families from Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 16, 2012 at Newtown High School, Newtown, Connecticut. Twenty-six people were shot dead, including twenty children, after a gunman identified as Adam Lanza opened fire in the school. He then killed himself. UPI/Olivier Douliery/Pool
President Barack Obama speaks at an interfaith vigil for families of the victims as well as families from Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 16, 2012 at Newtown High School, Newtown, Connecticut. Twenty-six people were shot dead, including twenty children, after a gunman identified as Adam Lanza opened fire in the school. He then killed himself. UPI/Olivier Douliery/Pool 
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Published: Dec. 17, 2012 at 11:51 AM
By GABRIELLE LEVY, UPI.com

Before joining the interfaith vigil held Sunday night at Newtown High School, President Barack Obama spent several hours meeting with the families of the victims of the Sandy Hook shooting and the first responders who helped them.

Although the details of those meetings is traditionally kept private out of respect for the families, several heartwarming details have emerged.

Two teachers, Steve George and Bobby Pattison, left a note for Obama on the whiteboard in the room used by the president as a staging area before he entered the auditorium for the vigil. When they returned to the room, they found a reply from the president.

President Obama speaks at the vigil in Newtown [Video, transcript]

"You’re in our thoughts and prayers," it said, followed by Obama's distinctive signature.

One of the teachers, Steve George, who is also a football coach, tweeted out a picture of the note.

Dear President Obama,
The Newtown community is so thankful that you are coming to help us heal. In times of adversity it is reassuring to know that we have a strong leader to help us recover.

-Steve George, teacher/football coach
-Bobby Pattison, teacher


He also posed with a group of kids, siblings of some of the first graders slain in the shooting, for a photo that one of the families later tweeted out by one of the Newtown residents in the room.

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