It's the first day of classes in Escambia County, Florida. But for one school, today was homecoming.
Longleaf Elementary suffered major damage during Hurricane Ivan.
Today marked the first day teachers and students were able to return to classes in their own building.
It's something that hasn't happened at Longleaf Elementary School for almost a year. Students in classrooms, in hallways in the cafeteria.
"We are so glad to be back we would do anything to be back in our own home." says Principal Pat Reynolds.
It has taken a lot. Hurricane Ivan took a toll on the thirty year old building. Peeling back the roof, opening the building to Ivan's torrential rains.
"After a couple of days mold had grown on every surface. So they removed every piece of sheetrock, all the wiring, all the floorings, ceilings all the air ducts all that was removed." says Reynolds.
Work continues inside the building as another school year begins. Constructor worker Terry Ewing has been there since work began. "We gutted the whole building and now they stretched us out six days a week, ten hour days we achieved what we wanted to achieve." says Ewing.
An inconvenience everyone is willing to work with considering last year they had to hold classes in another school.
"I think knowing the school was damaged was bad but feeling like we were imposing on someone else. We had to come in and really not wanting to impose on anyone else and it was real tough to do that and still do your job." says first grade teacher Sioux Hepburn.
All the construction isn't complete at Longleaf just yet. A wing of nine classrooms is still under construction but in a couple of weeks this room will look like all the rest of the classrooms.
"Everybody's excited and everybody's so cooperative and we know that things are not just perfect yet. We are just willing to wait for that perfection to come while we just accommodate each other right now." says Reynolds.
While construction continues, some teachers are holding class wherever they can. For the next couple of weeks, principal Pat Reynolds' office will be home to a first grade class.
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