SPRING VALLEY, Calif. (KGTV) — It was a celebration at Bancroft Elementary School Monday morning as students returned to the school for the first time since floodwaters rushed through their classrooms five weeks ago.
One third grader said he woke up excited.
"For the donuts? Yeah," said student Ezra Hooker.
Ezra rolled out the red carpet for his classmates as they took a big step towards normalcy after flood waters drowned out their daily routines on Jan. 22.
It is a moment the third grader described as scary.
"At first we thought it was a game, but then the classrooms started flooding and then they told us to go to the auditorium. Then it was kinda like a river," he explained.
The district tells us that 32 classrooms were flooded and 14 inches of water filled the courtyard.
Bancroft students had no choice but to move their studies to the nearby middle school while cleanup efforts were underway.
"It was something different and we had different things and stuff like that," a student said. "We got fidgets and different recess schedules."
Ezra is looking forward to recess on Monday because he missed the playground at Bancroft.
Ezra wasn't the only one who woke up excited; his mom did, too.
Lucy Jasso is the school's Parent-Teacher Association president and set up the celebration.
"A lot that comes into, you know, kind of being back on campus and again celebrating all the hard work. I know it hasn't been easy for parents, for teachers, for families... Everybody is trying to make it work," she said. "It was just very nice to know that chapter is closing and we're back here at Bancroft."
