Sean C. Morgan
First week of school is done, and all is well.
That’s the word from school officials after kickoff activities and other opening ceremonies at local schools.
“I think the first week went really smoothly,” said Supt. Don Schrader.
Normally, the district receives a lot of calls over confusion about transportation and times, he said. “We didn’t seem to get that many.”
Schrader has already been out on school visits, and he served hot dogs and fruit punch at a fourth-grade luau set up by teachers at Oak Heights Elementary. All of the schools were doing something like that.
“Visiting schools, it looked like kids were excited to be there,” Schrader said, but one student told him that kids are always excited for two days of the year, the first day and the last day.
“We had a good start this year,” said Keith Winslow, starting his first year as Sweet Home High School principal. “We’re up. It’s a large freshman class.”
The school started with freshman orientation on Tuesday last week and barbecue for the freshman families that night.
Football and volleyball have started practicing at the Junior High, said Vice Principal Josh Dargis. The school also is starting a soccer program. Junior high soccer had been handled by the Boys and Girls Club.
“Last week went very smoothly – so far so good,” Dargis said. His school will have an open house on Thursday next week, and the first dance will be held this Thursday.
The garden and arts clubs have started, he said, and the drama club is right around the corner.
“It’s always busy the first few weeks of school,” Foster Principal Glenna DeSouza said. “They’re getting settled in. We’ve had a lot of new students.”
Foster will hold an open house from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, with parents arriving early to meet teachers, DeSouza said.
“I think the fun part is watching the kinders and first graders,” DeSouza said. “Especially the kinders and their first time with teachers.”
“It went very well,” said Holley Principal Elena Barton. Her school had an end-of-the-week back-to-school celebration Friday, she said. The PTC brought bubbles, and the students played with sidewalk chalk and sprinkler and ate popsicles.
Her school is the result of merging Holley and Crawforsville schools last school year.
The students adjusted well to that, and now they’re adjusting to a four-day school week.
“I think it’s going to be OK,” she said. “It’s an adjustment for everybody. The merger went well. I think it’s going to be much smoother (this year).”
Other open houses include Holley, scheduled for Tuesday; Hawthorne, 6 p.m. on Sept. 27; and Oak Heights, 6 p.m. on Thursday.
Enrollment is up a little, from 2,277 to 2,329.
Schrader anticipates that enrollment numbers will fluctuate a little.
High School enrollment is up, from 706 to 741, Schrader said, while Holley Elementary is down from 149 to 133.
Holley’s decrease was due to a wide variety of factors, he said.
“That was a big surprise,” Barton said. “But our class sizes are nice.”
The classes range from 22 to 25 students, she said.
Foster Elementary had the two largest classrooms in the district, with a third- and fourth-grade blend at 33 and a third- and fourth-grade blend at 32, DeSouza said.
Overall, Foster enrollment is up, 280 from 266.
The school has a lot of third graders this year, she said, and the first grade is large.
“We are down a little bit,” Dargis said. “But our numbers are better than projected.”
The junior high is down to 314 from 352.