Volunteers greet Waverly students on their first day in new school after tragic floods

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - Wednesday was the first day of class at the temporary new Waverly Elementary and Junior High School.

The old schools were ruined in the deadly floods two summers ago. The permanent location is going to take time to build, but the county wanted to have all its students under one roof as soon as possible.

Pastor Daron Brown and his group of church volunteers are the first faces students see as they pull up to the new temporary school. While the temporary school is a first for everyone, Brown and his volunteers are a well-oiled machine.

“We’ve been greeting at the schools, this is our 16th year,” said Brown. “And just being a presence and opening car doors and just being smiling faces in the morning and helping serve and getting kids safely out of the way of cars and into the school.”

Brown has an eighth-grade daughter. The assembly line he leads helps fellow parents stay in their cars to keep the line moving.

Greeting kids is something they tried to maintain the past couple of years when students were dispersed at other county schools. But now all elementary and junior high students are back under one roof.

“It feels like they can exhale a bit,” said Brown. “They have places of their own, teachers don’t have to share rooms, administrators have offices now.”

The volunteers are back where they are supposed to be. And after two hard years, their welcome is what students need every day for the rest of the year.

“Other than camping out at Walmart, this is the best thing I can do to see as many people as I can in the community which is what it’s all about,” said Brown.

Humphreys County Schools said it will be a few years until the permanent elementary and junior high are complete. Those will be off Highway 13.

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