TAMPA, Fla — After rising from the ashes, Tampa Heights Elementary School is ready to welcome back students for good.
The school's just more than three-year journey started after it was destroyed in a fire when power was restored following Hurricane Irma in Sept. 2017. The damage required a full renovation of, then, Lee Elementary which was first built by volunteers in 1906.
“Tampa Heights Elementary School is more than just a building to this community. It represents and celebrates the rich culture of this neighborhood and surrounding areas. Neighbors built the original school themselves when there were only 45 stars on our American flag. We are thrilled to be able to restore its historic beauty,” Hillsborough County Public Schools Superintendent Addison Davis said last year.
In Nov. of 2018, the newly constructed school received the name Tampa Heights Elementary School. Architects' goal for the school was to make it a mix of modern and traditional design while still preserving the historic exterior.
As students arrive for their first day they will be met with a red carpet celebration, according to the school district. There will also be a dedication ceremony after the school bell rings.
Reopening its doors is a moment that some teachers have been waiting a long time for and say it feels like coming home.
“I’m so invested that it’s going to be a returning. That’s how we phrase it here. We say we want to go home. We don’t say we want to go back to our school. We want to go back to our home," 2nd-grade teacher Samantha Levine previously told 10 Tampa Bay.
Levine has been teaching at the school for eight years and saw the destruction on the night it burned.
The 51,000-square-foot building was restored through $16 million of insurance money.
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