SIX HUNDRED MILFORD KIDS LOST THEIR SCHOOL TO A FIRE. THIS WEEK, THEY GOT THEIR CLASSROOMS BACK.

SIX HUNDRED MILFORD KIDS LOST THEIR SCHOOL TO A FIRE. THIS WEEK, THEY GOT THEIR CLASSROOMS BACK.

In the early hours of Sunday, October 25, a three-alarm fire tore through Lulu M. Ross Elementary School in Milford. The building was empty and nobody was hurt — but by sunrise, more than 600 students and 100 staff had no school to go back to.

Ross students lost a full week of classes while the district scrambled. Here's the plan that got them back: Ross kids are now learning at Milford Middle School, and the district's sixth graders shifted to Milford Central Academy to make room. Classes resumed Monday.

The city pitched in too — Milford City Council waived the demolition and permit fees tied to the fire, and during the closure the Food Bank of Delaware helped run meal hubs for Ross families. Governor Meyer toured the damage himself.

Superintendent Travis Moorman has called the fire "catastrophic," and he hasn't sugarcoated what comes next: the cause is still under investigation by the State Fire Marshal, and the road back for Ross is measured in years, not weeks.

But this week, 600 kids are back at desks, with their teachers, in their town. As Moorman put it, that school was a lot more than just the walls.

Welcome back, Ross.