UNION BEACH – For seven months, they were students without a school.

Now, Memorial School students are back in Union Beach, returning to their Hurricane Sandy-beaten building Monday for the final three weeks of the academic year.

“They’re happy to be home,” Mayor Paul Smith said. “It’s a great step toward normalcy.”

Sandy tore apart Union Beach last fall and flooded the borough’s only school with more than a foot of water. Officials at the K-8 school were forced to shut its doors because of the mud, sewage and contamination left after Sandy’.

While the school district gutted and reconstructed the building, more than half of Memorial School’s students – from kindergarten to fifth grade — were sent to St. Catherine’s School in Middletown and Central School in Keyport.

But St. Catherine’s wasn’t big enough for the students, according to Memorial School officials, forcing another move to Holy Family School in Hazlet in December.

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During an April Union Beach school board meeting, parents expressed concerns that the school was reopening before mold and other contaminants were completely removed. District officials said at the time that the school would be subject to a final inspection before it opened its doors again.

“Those are legitimate concerns, but the school is as clean as can be,” Smith said.

District Superintendent Joseph Annibale could not be reached for comment Monday.

The final day of school is June 27.