Louisa County High School students return to class five days a week Wednesday for the first time since August's earthquake shut down their school. They will go to class in a building - placed on their old school's parking lot - that will be the high school's home for at least the next three years.
Tuesday, students got their first look at where they'll spend extended school days starting Wednesday.
It sounds like alphabet soup as Ashley Logan and her mom maneuver their way through Louisa County's modular high school. Logan said, "It's going to take some time to get used to and memorize where I have to go."
She's restarting her senior year for the third time, after the August quake put middle and high school students on a part-time schedule. "Some chaos, some days," said Logan. "Some days I'm like "why did this have to happen?"
Students surrounded school board members, county supervisors, and teachers Tuesday afternoon for an open house to welcome the community to the high school's new home.
Louisa County High School Principal Tom Smith said, "I think it brings us back to normal or as close to normal as we can get."
Students will move among 90 trailers tacked together. There's a gym, bathrooms, and cafeteria. "We'll see how things go and adjust," stated Smith. "I've told my faculty before that this year's fluid."
Students will be in the modular high school until 2015, while the county figures out whether to rebuild or repair the earthquake-condemned high school. Right now, they're waiting on estimates from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the insurance company to figure out how much it's going to cost.
Louisa School Board Chairman Greg Strickland said, "It's been a partnership throughout. The county administration has really been working with us with incident management teams daily with our school administration."
Logan has her map in hand, learning her way around a disaster. "It looks like a really nice normal school," she said. "I wish it never happened, but in a way it got everyone working together and stronger."
This also means no more weekend school days for middle school students, who will return to a five-day schedule. The county estimates a $40 million to $60 million cost to rebuild or repair the high school and Thomas Jefferson Elementary.
