St. Francis of Assisi students return to school 2 years after massive fire

Rising from the ashes nearly two years later, St. Francis of Assisi School in Delaware County reopened to students Tuesday, rebuilt after a massive fire scattered the student body to other schools.

The Oct. 7, 2024 fire gutted a building for pre-K, first and third-grade students at the Catholic school in Springfield.

Faith has guided the community for the past two years. On Tuesday, it guided them home.

The first day of school was emotional for many, including Principal Nicole Hamilton.

"I already cried coming to school because it's just been a lot of work," Hamilton said.

The cause of the fire was never determined.

"Just going through and looking around and seeing the destruction, I just repeated over and over again to myself, dear lord. What are we gonna do and how are we going to fix this?" the Rev. Matthew J. Tralies said.

The answer came from the community, which raised thousands of dollars through fundraisers, including the sale of first responder trading cards and a dance-a-thon.

Students spent the last two years at St. Kevin School while the primary school was being rebuilt — it cost $6.5 million. Now they're back, with the youngest students and older kids learning together again on the same campus.

"It's very exciting. The kids are very excited. I'm very excited. The community is very excited," parent Layne McDevitt said. 

On Tuesday morning, Archbishop Nelson J. Perez blessed the building.

"I'm almost in disbelief that we're all here celebrating this day," Tralies said. "I cannot tell you the amount of joy and happiness that I feel to be with all of you that we're here. … It speaks about the resiliency of the human spirit, right? The resiliency of the human heart."

An open house will be held on Sept. 13 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.