Thursday officially marks the start of the school year in Westchester's largest city.

Kids and teachers in Yonkers are finally back together after last week’s storm caused some serious building issues.

LIVE UPDATES: Ida's AftermathYOUR PHOTOS: Ida's impact on the tri-state area

Like many Westchester school districts, Yonkers had to delay its start by a few days due to floodwaters from Ida.

District officials say utility crews worked quickly to clean up any storm and water damage to get kids back in the classroom. "Extremely exciting day for us, the children are returning, we have missed them tremendously and this is exactly where they belong," says Kahlil Gibran School Principal Leslie Dildy.

At the Kahlil Gibran School, students in kindergarten through eighth grade were masked up as required by state mandate and temperatures were taken as they came in the building.

School officials say even though COVID-19 is still an issue, this is a big improvement over last year's school year. "We are still concerned about the pandemic, but we are also concerned about what's happening to our children if we keep them at home for another year," says Dr. Edwin Quezada, Yonkers Schools superintendent.

Students who spoke with News 12 seem to agree there are big advantages to learning here rather than from home.

School officials say that while last year was difficult, it taught everyone how to quickly make adjustments when it was needed. The hope is that won't be necessary this year.