After Katrina: three teachers tell their stories; Looking back at the hardest days of their lives, and forward to an uncertain future.

By the time September rolls in, teachers and children alike are ready to settle into a school routine: circle time and readalouds, times tables and textbooks, and so much more. But this year, for some 372,000 students and at least 15,000 teachers in the gulf region, back-to-school blew away with Hurricane Katrina. Thousands of teachers and their families forced to evacuate were left wondering about the state of their schools and the whereabouts of dear colleagues and students. Many posted urgent requests on the Internet: "Will Lafitte Elementary reopen?" wrote one. "How are my fellow teachers at Moton? God bless you all," wrote another. The short notes spoke volumes of fear, chaos, and lives upturned. Here is a closer look at what three teachers experienced of Katrina and her aftermath.

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My School Is Underwater

"I'm a certified teacher looking to relocate--it would be me, my two daughters, and our labrador retriever."

For the last decade, Kim Guidry has been a teacher in St. Bernard's parish, outside New Orleans. After Katrina hit, her school--and every other school in St. Bernard--was submerged in up to 24 feet of water. It is unlikely, say officials, that any will reopen before 2007. Guidry must now begin her life and her career anew.

"I evacuated with my husband and daughters on the Saturday before the storm," says Guidry. "We went to stay temporarily with my brother-in-law." Guidry admits her family is one of the lucky ones. They had a place to go and are safe. "My parents tried to ride it out and had to be rescued from the roof of their house, but they're now here with us."

Now that the immediate crisis is past, Guidry is busy looking for a new teaching position and a home for her family. A strange thing to get used to in their post-Katrina life is accepting the outpouring of help and generosity, from not only family, but even from strangers. "At the mall in Baton Rouge," Guidry reports, "a salesclerk in the Disney Store asked if I needed clothing for my girls and gave me bags full."

It's overwhelming, admits Guidry, "I am not used to getting help in this way. I am always the one giving help."

Guidry says her deep connections to her St. Bernard school, made enrolling her two daughters elsewhere difficult. "It's very emotional. My girls have always gone to school with me. I really miss my old way of life."

Home is Where the Books Are

"I am an evacuee living in Florida ... We'll get back to normal. I just know it."

"My school will likely be one of the first to reopen," wrote Karen S., a Lousiana evacuee to the Scholastic News message boards, "but I don't think I'll be there." A veteran teacher and grandmother, Karen is living in Panama City Beach, Florida. "My entire family is here with us, all 34 of us," she says, "We are living in five condos until we can get back home."

Like most of her family, Karen lost her home to the flooding, but it was a small request that made her realize just how much she's lost. "The other day, my granddaughter wanted me to read to her," Karen said, "and that's when I realized all my books are gone." Her granddaughter checked out the kids' classic Are You My Mother?, from the library at her temporary school. Says Karen, "When I sat down and read it, I felt like we were home again."

Blogging the Hurricane

"It is incredible that we can make images into television programs, but we cannot save the people in the water."

Under any circumstances, Abram Himelstein is an amazing teacher. Until the hurricane forced him to flee New Orleans, he worked with the Neighborhood Story Project, a program that gave inner-city students the chance to write books about their own communities, using creative non-fiction, interviews and photography. "Last June, my students published five books," says Himelstein. "They were celebrated with block parties and second in sales to Harry Potter at some bookstores."

Now in Houston, Texas, Himelstein is hungry for news of his students. On his Weblog "In Exile" (blogs.chron.com/exil), Himelstein writes, "On Thursday, we finally heard from students--Arlet and Sam are in Shreveport, Ashley is in Baton Rouge, in shock: 'I can't even tell you what happened to us in that water.'"

Three days later, he was able to report: "Ashley is still in a shelter in Baton Rouge, taking notes on people's stories. We are getting our house ready for her and her family and hoping their car holds out till they get here."

"She is telling her story of survival," Himelstein writes a few days later, after Ashley and her family arrive safely. "From the hurricane, to the lack of relief, to being unable to help while her grandma and great-grandma slept and dehydrated on the overpass near the Superdome."

As in the past, Himelstein seems committed to helping the young people he teaches get their stories out. And now, they have quite a story to tell.