GREENFIELD — When fifth-grader Emily Fleming spotted her principal in the hallway at Greenfield Intermediate School on the first day of school Wednesday, she spread her arms open wide and smiled.
“Hey there. You excited to be back,” asked principal Bronson Curtis as he gave her a big hug.
“No,” she answered flatly, with a little grin.
Summer came to a halt on Aug. 2 when classes resumed for students in both the Greenfield-Central and Eastern Hancock school districts.
With that came the usual back-to-school chaos, with buses and parents still dropping off kids after the first bell rang.
“We were only 10 minutes late getting everyone in today, which I count as a win,” said Curtis, who is serving his first year as principal at Greenfield Intermediate School after serving the prior year as assistant principal.
An educator since 2006, Curtis knows the first day of school traditionally comes with its share of hiccups.
It was business as usual early Wednesday morning as fourth graders filed into the cafeteria to learn all about how lunchtime works at their new school, which serves children in grades 4-6.
Former principal Devon Marine started a program called Cougar Camp a few years ago to teach incoming students the ins and outs of their new school, like how to proceed through the lunch line in the cafeteria.
“They go through the line that first morning and get Rice Krispie treats to learn about how the process works, which makes things run much smoother at lunchtime,” said Curtis.
“Cougar Camp runs the first three weeks of school to get students acclimated for the new year,” said Curtis, who credits his teaching staff for making the first day of school such a great experience for students.
“Things have gone very smoothly this morning, and I give teachers 99% of the credit for that,” he said.
“Teachers have done a lot of work over the past couple of months. They’ve been in and out of the building all summer long working in their classrooms and meeting as committees to get ready for the school year, and they’ve done a tremendous job,” said Curtis, who enjoyed some company on his drive into school.
His oldest son is a fifth-grader at the intermediate school while his two younger sons attend the adjacent Harris Elementary School.
“It was fun coming in together today,” he said.
Kids were also quickly getting acclimated at Eastern Hancock schools throughout Wednesday during first day of classes.
Just outside the elementary cafeteria at Eastern Hancock, principal Amanda Pyle was all smiles as she waited to welcome in a couple of kindergarten classes for lunch.
“It’s been a great first day,” Pyle said. “Everyone is super-excited and the energy is amazing after having the building quiet all summer long. I love the energy and the number of hugs and smiling faces as we miss that during the summer.”
It was the same positive energy at Eastern Hancock’s high school and middle school, where principal Adam Barton said the day started off well.
“The kids’ biggest concerns are their computers, their lockers, their lunches and getting on the right buses,” Barton said. “It was kind of the same ole, same ole, but a good first day.”
Eastern Hancock Superintendent George Philhower noted the district has around 100 new students this year, not counting the new kindergarten students. The number takes them to just over 1,200 students in all.
“We’ve got to wait for the dust to settle because some kids will not be returning and we need to figure all of that out,” Philhower said. “We’ll know for sure in about a week.”
An estimated 35% of students attending Eastern Hancock last year were transfer students, Philhower noted, and he suspects the final number will be slightly more this year.
Philhower said the year started right for everyone but dog Rosie, one of the district’s therapy dogs, who was so excited to get back into the school that she wiped out when she saw some of her buddies in the front office.
“She was so happy to get into the office and see the people that her legs slipped on the floor and she wiped out, but she’s good and is probably the most excited of everyone to be back,” Philhower said.
