INDIAN LAKE, Ohio — After last Thursday’s storm, communities across Logan County are still working to pick up the pieces.

But they took a big a big step Wednesday morning, as students and teachers of the Indian Lake School District returned to school for the first time since their community was uprooted nearly a week ago.

“Experiencing trauma is difficult, and just giving kids back the chance to get back to some kind of normalcy,” said Indian Lake High School Principal, Kyle Wagner.

The Indian Lake School District reopened nearly six days after an EF-3 tornado ripped through the community, killing three people and injuring more than two dozen others.

“It’s been chaotic. Just lots of uncertainty. Just organized chaos here at the school,” Wagner said.

Not only has high school principal Kyle Wagner had his hands full trying to get the school ready to reopen, he’s also a parent who knows what it means for the kids and their families to be able to get back to their normal surroundings.

“Give kids a safe place to be, a warm place to be, lots of kids have been out working, trying to clean up their houses or their friends’ houses if they didn’t have damage just starting the building process,” Wagner said.

But while returning to school is a big step, teachers and staff here know it’s not the final one, which is why their focus will be on much more than just their lesson plans.

“I think we’re here to support kids. We’re here to make sure that they feel safe and I recognize that a lot of our kids probably are not going to be here today,” said Paige Dukowitz-Holt, an art teacher at Indian Lake High School.

But to those who are returning, Dukowitz-Holt hopes to extend a helping way, like the entire community has done over the over the last six days.

“I am so impressed by every single person that I know who has stepped up, not just here at the school but in the community,” Dukowitz-Holt said.