dway@heraldsun.com
HILLSBOROUGH -- White sheets of all-important paper were plastered on the entrance doors at New Hope Elementary School to guide the 580 or so wiggly, giggly students to their homeroom class for the start of the 2009-10 school year in the Orange Public Schools district Tuesday morning.
"We opened the doors at 7:35 and we probably had 100 children waiting to get in, with smiles on their faces and just ready to get back. That's why I love being an elementary school principal," said Principal Cathy Rumley.
"It's gone really well. We have a half day behind us, everything is running very smoothly and the children are excited to be back," Rumley said. "We're already setting expectations. We've already talked about respect this morning on the morning news."
And the faculty was in good spirits despite the summer of discontent and worry over state budget cuts.
"All the anxiety that was caused by the late [state] budget has kind of dissolved now that we're getting down to the real business, and that's making sure that all the children have what they need and they have a good school year," Rumley said.
One new initiative parents and children will observe at New Hope and the other elementary schools this year is a literacy initiative called Whole to Part. It is being implemented in partnership with UNC.
"It's a literacy intervention to help children who need help with boosting their literacy skills, their reading skills, and helping to close the achievement gap," Rumley said.
That's not all that's in the works for student improvement this year, according to Schools Superintendent Patrick Rhodes.
"We're making our big push for improving our technology-related instruction, having really modern tools for our teachers and students. We've installed hundreds of smart boards," Rhodes said. "Students are very visual and like having multiple media access points" to their instruction. Smart boards are the digital descendants of the old slate chalkboards that can operate with the touch of a finger and are capable of splashing colorful text and graphics on the board.
He hopes such investments will help to continue to enhance what he calls "a strong, collaborative culture based on student learning" that is paying dividends across the district. "I'm really excited about the progress we've made in the past few years."
Rhodes had a whirlwind day after the opening bell welcomed students back from their summer vacations.
"I went to every school and spoke to every principal and toured around every building," he said. "There was a lot of excitement, as you might expect, when students are moving into a school for the first time" or moving up from elementary to middle or middle to high school.
"It was an excellent opening for us up here," he said, characterizing the day as "very well organized and right to the matter of the important thing, which is instruction."
The day began on a high note.
"We had a great start for transportation. According to our chief transportation officer, it was our best transportation in five years," with all the bus driver slots filled and no missed routes, Rhodes said.
"Now, we haven't run yet this afternoon, so I better knock on wood, hadn't I," Rhodes said.
There were a few surprises as the day unfolded.
"We had a couple of enrollment crowded grades," Rhodes said. "We'll be hiring some new teachers" in those "hot spots."
Other than a line at the guidance office for students seeking copies of lost or forgotten schedules and trying to determine where their homeroom was, the day seemed to get off to an orderly start at Cedar Ridge High School, even though students had mixed emotions about being back in school.
"I'm looking forward to it, but I don't want to have to get up early," said Corey Rone, a junior who transferred from Chapel Hill High School to Cedar Ridge midway through last school year.
"I started slacking last year. I've got to buckle down this year," said Bria Cleveland, a junior.
"I had a really good summer," Cleveland said, but she was looking forward to reuniting with friends she hadn't seen since last school year.
