NEW ORLEANS (AP):
GREETED BY welcome signs hung over the door and in the hallways, students began returning yesterday 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.
Students began arriving shortly before 8 a.m. at the three-story brick building in the uptown area that was relatively unscathed by the storm.
WELCOMED OPENING
"I'm glad to be back," said George Lee III, a 9-year-old who walked in with his mother, Darlene Thomas. She must catch two buses each day to get George to the school from their home in mid-city, but she said it is a trip she gladly makes.
"It's exciting to have him back in school," she said.
About 120 students showed up Monday. Ben Franklin Elementary was open to any city students from kindergarten to sixth grade - about ages 5 to 12 - and some 210 youngsters had been registered at the end of last week. Principal Christine Mitchell speculated that some parents registered to hold a spot and that attendance will grow.
Children were noticeably more shy than their parents as they ran a gauntlet of news reporters and television crews outside the school. First to arrive were 12-year-old Kenneth and 7-year-old Branden Galeano, with their father, Jorge.
