New Orleans ? After two years of trying, Ronald Coleman was at last delivering his children Monday to one of New Orleans’ best public schools – thanks in large part to a catastrophe.

“It took Hurricane Katrina to get my children in a good public school in Orleans Parish,” Coleman said as he and his wife escorted their son and daughter into Benjamin Franklin Elementary.

On Monday, Franklin Elementary became the first regular public school in New Orleans to reopen since Katrina devastated the city on Aug. 29.

Before the storm, Franklin was a magnet school with selective enrollment for children with an aptitude for math and science. But now, Franklin is open to anyone who wants to attend.

Welcome signs hung over the door and in the hallways as students began trickling into the three-story brick building in the Uptown section that was largely spared by the storm. The building has a capacity of 550, but only 210 students were registered and only about 120 showed up.

Some private schools in New Orleans began reopening in October, but no public schools had opened, with the exception of two charter schools that are outside the local board’s control.

At least 10 public schools are expected to open in the coming weeks. Only about 4,000 to 5,000 students are expected to come back during the current school year, out of a pre-Katrina public school enrollment of close to 60,000.