Redwood Elementary School teacher Mary Daniels was back at school Tuesday getting her classroom ready for her students’ arrival on Aug. 8.

“Everything has to be organized,” said the fourth-grade teacher. “I want to put a lot of welcome signs up to welcome them in. The first day of school is very important because it’s a great impact on the children. It’s when we get acquainted and get to know them.”

Daniels is one of the 600 teachers in the 9,000-student Vicksburg Warren School District headed back to organize classrooms after school buildings reopened Monday.

At Redwood, she and fellow teachers are facing the task of getting settled after leaving in a rush on May 6, three weeks before school was dismissed for the year, as floodwaters from the Mississippi River threatened the school that sits near Mississippi 3.

“I’m unpacking some old papers and taking garbage and trash out from the boxes,” she said. “On the day we had to move, I was just packing up and getting ready to go, hoping water wouldn’t get into the school.”

The school’s 445 students finished the school year at Sherman Avenue Elementary.

The Mississippi crested on May 19 at 57.1 feet, 14.1 feet above flood level, but the school remained dry after an earthen dam was built around its perimeter.

Principal Randy Broome said the school had no damage, but playground equipment and sidewalks are to get a deep scrub-down before students return.

The Culkin Volunteer Fire Department will help spray the equipment this week, Broome said.

Daniels, an 11-year educator, said she will continue preparing her classroom with the help of her three daughters, two of whom also teach in the district.

“We provide as much help as needed,” said Kenyatta Washington, a Vicksburg High School math teacher who will begin preparing her classroom Aug. 1.

“I’m helping Mom today, and she’ll come to help me,” said Stacy Chambers, a third-grade teacher at Sherman Avenue.

Chambers plans to return to Sherman Avenue next week.

“I just finished teaching summer school, so I’m getting a little break before I go back,” she said.