JACKSBORO, Texas — On Tuesday morning, the cheerful chatter between teachers and children could be heard in the parking lot of First Baptist Church in Jacksboro.
"How are you? Are y'all ready for school today?" Superintendent Brad Burnett asked a student.
Burnett, along with teachers, school board members, and first responders, greeted the preschoolers through third graders, who are going to school at the church and the Masonic Lodge next door for the next few weeks.
Jacksboro Elementary School was heavily damaged during the EF3 tornado last Monday. Around 400 people took shelter in the school's hallway as the storm tore through.
The gym was destroyed, and several classrooms were damaged. Cars were overturned in the parking lot.
At this point, the structure is not stable enough for people to enter the building.
Restoration started quickly after the storm and is ongoing at Jacksboro Elementary School.
As parents dropped their young children off at First Baptist Church for the return of school, there were some nerves from the trauma of the tornado.
"I'm a little nervous, but they need to be back," said Stacy Williams, a mother of three.
She said her kids were asking about their teachers.
Williams was one of the parents waiting in her car in the pickup line when the storm sirens sounded last week.
She said, "I look up and I see Mr. Qualls rushing parents in the building. As soon as we got in the building, we literally saw the gym come down on us. So today is the first day seeing him, so it's kind of emotional. If he hadn't rushed us in there, who knows what would have happened?"
Williams said the school leaders saved her and her children's lives that day.
Even though she is nervous about her kids returning to school, she finds comfort knowing the educators will protect her loved ones at all costs.
She confidently dropped her youngest child off on Tuesday morning.
"School is the people who you're with. It's not really the building that you're in," said Williams.
"I'm just so thankful that we were able to get our kids back into a classroom setting as quickly as we did, and I'm looking forward to a great remainder of the week," Superintendent Burnett said. "I think our teachers needed to see those kids and know they're safe."
He said they have a plan in place in case of any threat of severe weather, though he hopes they won't need to use it again.
As far as returning to Jacksboro Elementary School's campus, the goal is for pre-K through third graders to go back to campus in two weeks.
Fourth and fifth grade classrooms faced a lot of water damage, so it could be four weeks before those students can return. For now, they're going to class at Jacksboro Middle School, which was not damaged by the storm.