PERRY COUNTY, Ky. (LEX 18) — Not every school is back in session.
Some will wait until after Labor Day and that includes Buckhorn School in Perry County. The flood damaged much of the building, but there's a bit of normalcy on the way for the K-12 school.
"I really don't have a classroom," said Denise Colwell. "I don't have a classroom right now. I think it'll be in that corner."
Colwell has taught at Buckhorn for more than 20 years. This year, though, is some uncharted territory.
"I'm trying to hold it together," she said. "It has been tough, it has been really tough."
Still, though, there's a silver lining.
"But it has been great to be with these people," she said.
That includes fellow teachers like Cynthia Nolan.
"It's going to be home," said Nolan. "We're going to make it just like it was before."
Before the school was a sanctuary for teachers to mold young minds and kids to laugh and learn, but with loss comes a new beginning.
"We'll make it work," said Colwell. "We always have in the past, and we'll do it now."
"We've got to do a better job even than we have before," Nolan said. "And I really think, people call me crazy, but I said this is going to be the best year we've had in a long time."
In a world where it takes a village to raise a child, it's the people who can make dreams come true.
"We just really want to be in school so we can provide them a place that they're used to, that they feel comfortable at," said Colwell.
"I've seen such good in people," said Nolan. "Such good in people. People you don't know. People helping people. Such good how can you not be positive with that?"
A friendly hand where this village will reunite -- and see some light at the end of the hallway.
"You know some will break my heart," Nolan said. "We might cry together, we might laugh together, but we'll be together."
Buckhorn's principal says they will have their first day on Tuesday and hope to be back in their normal building for the start of the next school year.
