There was an excited buzz emanating through Beach Middle School, Chelsea High School, North Creek Elementary and South Meadows Elementary as students headed back to school Tuesday.
For Beach Middle School Principal Nick Angel, it meant that about 599 students were in the building and roughly 50 staff members, including a number of new teachers.
“I’m excited to have you back in the building,” he told everyone during morning announcements, reminding students that the doors to the school don’t open until 7:35 a.m., that ipad forms needed to be returned and Friday was picture day for students.
The first day, he said, is spent explaining “culture and culture setting,” passing out forms that need to be returned and “the office staff does a great job helping kids who might have forgotten their schedules or locker combinations.”
“The students get acclimated to the building,” he said of the first day, adding that by week’s end they’d all have their ipads.
At the high school, Principal Mike Kapolka said, “This is like our Christmas. We can’t sleep the night before from the excitement and our staff loves the first day of school.”
He expects enrollment to be up about 25 students from last year and when everything shakes out, there will be about 851 students in the building.
Although there are no new hires at the high school this year, several teachers have shifted over from other schools, he said.
“It’s a drink from the fire hose day, but things settle down by Thursday,” Kapolka said.
At South Meadows, Principal Stacie Battaglia said, “It was a happy first day and fun to see so many parents bring their kids to school.”
She said everything went smoothly and that students would be reminded of “back-to-school behavior expectations,” grade level by grade level as she spoke to the students throughout the day.
She said there were a lot of excited fifth-graders, who already understand what’s expected of them at South. “We have a real strong group of leaders in fifth grade,” she said, adding that a new safety patrol would be chosen soon.
She expects to have about 541 children in the building, up almost 30 kids from last year’s 509 students.
At North Creek, Principal Marcus Kaemming said,”Everything was going great” the first day of school, and there are three new staff members this year.
Plus, with 7 classes of kindergarteners, another teacher will be hired. There are seven classes of first graders and 6 classes of second graders this year.
“The energy and excitement around the first day of school is amazing,” he said, adding, “I’m just as excited as everyone else.”
New at North this year is the afternoon parent pick-up procedure, he said. “The buses and the cars have flipped. Parents are asked to go to the back of the building to pick up and not to get out of their cars.”
He said the only reason a parent should go to the front or get out of their cars is if they have a teacher meeting or are picking up walkers, he said.
Kaemming said that he expects about 500 kids at North Creek, up about 10 kids from last year.
“There’s nothing quite like the first day of school,” said Superintendent of Schools Andy Ingall. “So many smiling and enthusiastic faces in our schools today.”
He said, “It is great to have our students back. We look forward to sharing in a fantastic 2014-2015 school year with our entire Chelsea community.”
Please enjoy the photo gallery below from the first day of school at Beach Middle School.
