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New Orleans Reopens an Elementary School

Children’s voices filled the hallways at Benjamin Franklin Elementary School in New Orleans last week for the first time in three months, as the first regular city public school opened since Hurricane Katrina struck.

Only about half of the 200 children who had registered to return to the pre-K-6 school in the city’s uptown area actually showed up on Nov. 28, the school’s reopening day, but nearly 200 more arrived and registered in the next two days, officials said.

“It sure is good to hear the kids’ voices in here again,” said Ron Midkiff, who had taught at the school for 15 years before he fled to Texas. His house was wrecked by Katrina, which has left most...