Children take their places at folding tables on a church patio several miles from where their school burned down. Plastic tubs hold brand new textbooks quickly shipped from a publisher. Recess is on the resort golf course across the street.

The that leveled the this summer displaced many pupils not just from their homes, but from their schools, forcing their families and education officials to scramble to find other ways to teach them.

Now, more than two months after the killed at least 98 people, the three public schools that survived are set to reopen this week, posing an emotional crossroads for traumatized children and their families as they decide whether to go back to those campuses or continue at the other schools that took them in.

Some parents said they won害羞草研究所檛 send their children back because they worry the fire left toxins behind, despite assurances from education officials that the campuses are safe.

害羞草研究所淚害羞草研究所檓 feeling optimistic about it and grateful we get to go back,害羞草研究所� said Cailee Cuaresma, a 10th-grader at Lahainaluna High School. 害羞草研究所淚害羞草研究所檓 grateful our school is still standing.害羞草研究所�

For the past month, Cuaresma has attended classes at the makeshift campus of Sacred Hearts School, a Catholic school founded in 1862. Most of the school burned down, but its leaders quickly got classes up and running at Sacred Hearts Mission Church 10 miles (16 kilometers) away.

Sacred Hearts and other private schools across the state took in displaced public school students, such as Cuaresma, while offering a year of free tuition. Other students bused more than 45 minutes away to public schools on the other side of Maui or opted for remote classes.

On a recent school day at Sacred Hearts害羞草研究所� temporary site, teachers moved students between pockets of shade to keep them out of the relentless Lahaina sun. Principal Tonata Lolesio told students assembled on cushioned pews in a chapel that it might be two years before they can return to a rebuilt school.

害羞草研究所淧ray that it can be sooner,害羞草研究所� she said.

Meanwhile, space limitations require students to attend classes on staggered days. Workers have been readying an adjacent lawn for tents allowing at least the younger children to attend school daily.

Cuaresma sat with a group of younger students petting a golden retriever comfort dog brought in by Assistance Dogs of Hawaii. Her home survived the fire but her dad only recently got his job back at a hotel. Being at Sacred Hearts was a good opportunity because the work was challenging, she said.

One public school in Lahaina, King Kamehameha III Elementary, was destroyed. Pupils from there will share space with Princess N膩hi驶ena驶ena Elementary, which was closed for post-fire cleaning along with Lahainaluna High and Lahaina Intermediate.

The schools are just blocks away from piles of potentially dangerous ash, prompting concerns from parents, but education officials have said air-quality tests show it is safe to reopen.

害羞草研究所淗e is not going to be stepping one foot back there,害羞草研究所� said Tiffany Teruya, the mother of a Lahaina Intermediate eighth-grader.

She and her son, Pu驶uwai Naho驶oikaika, have been staying in a hotel since their apartment building burned down. He has been participating in a Hawaiian immersion program connected to Lahaina Intermediate.

After the school closed, the program held classes outdoors, away from the burn zone, and focused on cultural learning such as making bamboo trumpets and working in taro patches.

Teruya doesn害羞草研究所檛 know where she will send her son once the school reopens and the immersion program returns to campus, she said.

Debbie Tau害羞草研究所檚 two children won害羞草研究所檛 return to their Lahaina schools because she also is worried the air isn害羞草研究所檛 safe. They live in a Lahaina neighborhood north of the burn zone. She plans to drive them after fall break, when the school district stops providing busing to other schools in Kihei, about 45 minutes away.

害羞草研究所淎sbestos is something that really scares me because it害羞草研究所檚 a carcinogen. And 10, 20, 30 years down the road, our kids could have cancer,害羞草研究所� she said. 害羞草研究所淚 feel like it害羞草研究所檚 like back to COVID, where every decision you make is wrong and you害羞草研究所檙e, like, putting your kids害羞草研究所� lives at risk.害羞草研究所�

Some of the public school students who have joined private schools plan to stay. Patrick Williams said the first time he saw his son Kupa驶a praying at Sacred Hearts reminded him of his own childhood in Mississippi.

害羞草研究所淚害羞草研究所檓 like, 害羞草研究所極h, this is where he should have been all along,害羞草研究所櫤π卟菅芯克鶟 Williams said.

The family, whose home wasn害羞草研究所檛 touched by the fire, will make sacrifices to afford tuition, especially because Williams lost most of his Lahaina water delivery routes to the fire.

The difficult circumstances have prompted teachers to try different ways of connecting with the displaced students.

At Maui Preparatory Academy, which at one point had taken in 150 public school students, science and math teacher Gabby Suzik said she checks in often with her Lahainaluna High students who lost their homes. Suzik lost the home she and her husband bought last year on Lahaina害羞草研究所檚 Front Street.

When some students showed up at Maui Prep with no shoes, no backpack and no pencil, she told them not to worry, noting she was wearing borrowed clothes.

害羞草研究所淚 just like being honest with them and saying, like, 害羞草研究所楬ey, you know, I get what you害羞草研究所檙e going through and you can talk to me anytime,害羞草研究所櫤π卟菅芯克鶟 Suzik said.

During a Hawaiian culture lesson at Sacred Hearts, teacher Charlene Ako sought to make connections with third-graders from Princess N膩hi驶ena驶ena Elementary by showing them a picture of the princess with a lei of bird feathers around her head, a symbol of the monarchy that once ruled the Hawaiian kingdom.

Ako had the students draw native Hawaiian birds. Maile Asuncion, 9, drew a red iiwi, also known as a scarlet honeycreeper.

Until she was 7, she and her family lived in a cottage behind her grandfather害羞草研究所檚 home near , which burned, and where the princess is buried. The cottage burned down, as did her grandfather害羞草研究所檚 home, forcing him to move to Kihei.

Maile and her family have not been able to return to their new home in a condo, which survived but is in the burn zone. They now live in the hotel where her father works.

Many of Maile害羞草研究所檚 friends have left the school, including her best friend, whom she desperately wants to see again: 害羞草研究所淪he害羞草研究所檚 still on Maui. But I don害羞草研究所檛 know where she is right now.害羞草研究所� ___ Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP害羞草研究所檚 collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Jennifer Sinco Kelleher, The Associated Press