Griffith Elementary Students, Faculty Return Home

When students enter the doors of Griffith Elementary School in Ferguson Thursday morning, it will be the first time for many since the storms.

Tuesday, the school administration, wearing T-shirts saying, “We survived the tornado,” hosted a standing-room-only gym of parents and students for “Meet the Teacher” night.

“We’re going to have a great year,” Principal Robin Witherspoon announced to the crowd. “I’m so happy to be home.”

In April, the Good Friday storms tore through the St. Louis metro area and badly damaged areas including Ferguson, Berkeley, Maryland Heights, Bridgeton and even Lambert-St. Louis International Airport. was one of the casualties, and the only school in the badly damaged from the storm.

It resulted in the school closing for the rest of the year, and students being housed in two other schools, Johnson-Wabash Elementary School and Ferguson Middle School, for the remainder of the school year.

Witherspoon said that despite the storm’s damage and the chaotic first day, more than 93 percent of students attended school that day.

Teachers came in on Easter Sunday to pack materials and whatever else they needed and moved into their respective classrooms in the two schools.

After sharing space and activities with two other schools for two months, Witherspoon as well as students and parents couldn’t hold the excitement of returning to their home school.

“It got kind of crazy at the end of last year, but it worked out,” Quita Jenkins, parent to two sixth-graders, a third-grader and a second-grader of Griffith, said. “This is why I stay in this district.”

Parent Erica Gonzalez agreed that the transition last year was smooth, but the return to Griffith couldn't come soon enough for her first-grade daughter.

“My daughter couldn’t wait to come back,” she said.

Despite the hardships of last year, Witherspoon said she believes some positivity rose from the damage.

“It was a great opportunity for the community to feel the heart of teachers,” she said. “ Teachers came together like never before, and I think parents realized the commitment of our staff.”