“Two schools, one community” was the buzz phrase Wednesday as students from Princess Nahienaena Elementary and King Kamehameha III Elementary schools returned to classes in Lahaina for the first time since the wildfires more than two months ago.

About 200 pupils originally from King Kamehameha III Elementary and 300 students of Princess Nahienaena Elementary were welcomed at the Nahienaena campus by school employees with cheerful costumes and signs.

Both schools are holding classes on the Nahienaena campus until a temporary school can be built in Palelehua to replace King Kamehameha III Elementary, which was lost to the Lahaina fire. The two elementary schools are the last of the four Lahaina public schools to resume operations.

“Although we’re two different schools on one campus, we are one community, and that’s the most important thing,” Gary Kanamori, Princess Nahienaena Elementary principal, said in a taped interview provided by the state Department of Education. “Our teachers have welcomed them, our staff has welcomed them, and for those from King Kamehameha III — welcome home.”

The DOE provided taped interviews and photos as it has barred media from the campuses during the reopening of the Lahaina campuses this week. Lahainaluna High School reopened Monday and Lahaina Intermediate on Tuesday.

The students on day one represented about one-third of the original enrollment at King Kamehameha III Elementary, and about half of the original count at Princess Nahienaena Elementary. King Kamehameha III normally enrolls around 638 students, Nahienaena, about 656, according to their latest StriveHI reports.

On Wednesday, the elementary school students began their first day at Nahienaena by checking in, receiving name tags and lining up by grade level and classroom, the DOE said. Kindergarteners and their parents received an orientation. Each school performed a morning ‘oli, or chant, on their respective sides of the campus.

Grades K-1 from King Kamehameha III are in regular classrooms on the Nahienaena campus, while grades 2-5 are in “high quality tent structures” set up in an open field, and equipped with power, air conditioning and laminate floors, the DOE said.

Chilled water stations and 12 portable toilets, each with its own air conditioning unit, also are included at the site, DOE officials said in a statement. Faculty and staff from both schools “have worked hard to make (the shared campus) as inviting and familiar as possible for their communities impacted by the August wildfires,” they said.

Some families and educators have continued to express worries over whether air, soil and water are safe at campuses so close to the burn zone.

DOE officials have emphasized the department’s continual monitoring of air quality, biweekly wipe sampling in classrooms to test for particles settling on surfaces; and health and safety guidance developed with the state Department of Health that outlines actions the schools will take if there are changes in air quality. The DOE’s progress report, including test results, is at bit.ly/LahainaSchools ProgressReport.

Victor Akau‘ola, father of a kindergartener and first grader at Princess Nahienaena, said in a DOE interview that “the continued normalcy is what the kids need. They need that to get their minds off of things. This is part of the growth of a community.”