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First New Orleans public school opens since Katrina

Posted on November 28th, 2005 by Anthony K. Valley

Hoping to instill a sense of normalcy in the aftermath of the Katrina tragedy, Ben Franklin Elementary School earns the distinction of being the first public school to reopen.

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (AP) — Greeted by welcome signs hung over the door and in the hallways, students began returning Monday to the first regular public school to reopen since Hurricane Katrina hit three months ago.
“The main thing is, the kids want to be home,” Tony Collins said as he brought his son, James, a fifth-grader. He said he will be dropping off James — who used to attend a different school — every day at Ben Franklin Elementary School as he commutes from Baton Rouge, where he has been staying since the storm hit.

After bringing James to school, Collins will head out to his eastern New Orleans home, which he is trying to salvage while on leave from his job.

Kindergarten through sixth-grade students began arriving at the three-story brick building shortly before 8 a.m.
First-day enrollment was expected to be about 200 at Ben Franklin Elementary, in the affluent uptown area that was relatively unscathed by the storm. Before Katrina, it was a math-science magnet school with 390 students from preschool through eighth grade.

[ Full Story @ CNN.com ]