WARWICK – At Greenwood Elementary School this morning, many children rode the buses to school and some arrived with parents for their first day back at school since the December holiday break.

The school was closed all last week after two students in the same second-grade classroom developed encephalitis caused by the mycoplasma pneumoniae bacteria. One of those students died from the illness.

Journal photo / Kathy Borchers

Tracie Johnson, president of the Greenwood PTA, brings her son Nathan Johnson, 12, to school this morning at Greenwood Elementary School for the start of school today. They were giving the flowers to the school's principal to show their appreciation.

This morning, the students at Greenwood are among more than 20,000 children in Coventry, Warwick and West Warwick expected back at school after being kept home for two days last week. Those three districts closed all of their schools last Thursday when a Coventry child displayed symptoms of meningitis, which can also be caused by the mycoplasma bacteria.

Test results over the weekend showed the Coventry student's illness was not related to the mycoplasma bacteria that caused the other illnesses.

At Greenwood today, the Parent-Teacher Association president walked her 12-year-old son, Nathan Johnson, up to the school’s front door before classes began at 8:40 a.m. He was heading back to sixth-grade today.

“The whole situation has been stressful, but I think that the principal has done a wonderful job calming everyone down and keeping us aware,” Tracie Johnson said.

Also at the school, a medical doctor with an office in East Greenwich dropped off his 5-year-old son.

“My child is well, so I knew it was not a risk to have him be at school,” Dr. Chad Lamendola said. “We know enough to watch for symptoms, and we’re happy to have him back at school.”

-- With reports from Journal staff writer Talia Buford