Staff photo by EMILY BARNES
General Smallwood Middle School students walk from the buses to the entrance Tuesday on the first day of the new school year.
The first day of school was fashionably late this year as a weekend hurricane delayed the opening by one day in Charles County.
Thousands of students walked into their school buildings Tuesday and were greeted by staff members.
Without a noticeable worry in the world, a young boy walked right up to Gale-Bailey Elementary School Principal Carrie Richardson and stood staring at her until she made the first move.
Richardson, who was spending the morning in the front hallway helping students get to their classrooms, leaned over to get closer to the boy who stood perfectly still with his sunglasses on his face and a sticker on his shirt indicating he was a car rider.
Richardson asked if the boy needed help and asked for his name.
The kindergartner then spoke up. Clearly and matter-of-factly.
“My full name is Jeremy Randal King,” he said, adding no further information.
Richardson saw his name on a clipboard and found a teacher to take him to the rest of the kindergartners, who were lined up outside of the school.
At Gale-Bailey in Marbury, all of the kindergarten students are escorted to their classrooms after the older students make it to their rooms.
While in line outside, Colleen Snow, 5, shared with a reporter that she was excited to be at school and looked forward to just “being here and enjoying the first day.”
Colleen said she was eager to participate in arts and crafts.
“That’s all I like because me and my mom do arts and crafts at my house,” Colleen said.
Next to Colleen stood Zoie Johnson, dressed in pink and eager to show her teacher and a reporter that “I know sign language.”
Without hesitating, Zoie began speaking in her second language.
When asked what she signed, Zoie smiled and said, “Love and an ‘A.’”
As Zoie introduced her skills to her teachers, Zoie’s teacher explained to a reporter what Zoie and the class could expect for the day.
For the first day, kindergarten teacher Jessica Farrell said kindergarteners would get a lot of introductions to things such as classroom procedures.
“This is just as new for me as it is for them,” Farrell said as Tuesday was her first day teaching.
Tuesday was also a new experience for Ethan Baxter, 6, headed to the first grade at his new school.
Ethan said he was already eager for his favorite subject, recess.
Ethan Quinto, 10, said he looked forward to learning things that he didn’t learn last year, and gym.
Many students of varying ages mentioned gym as the thing they most looked forward to.
For second-graders Brock Cooper, 7, Michael Tippett, 7, and Christian Peris, 8, gym was up there with their list of most exciting things at the school, but math really got the boys talking.
Brock said math was great because “you can do good at it,” Christian said he liked everything about the subject and Michael said math was fun.
Christian said adding and subtracting were among the many math activities waiting for him in the second grade.
Brand-new Gale-Bailey student David Shafer, 7, said he also was looking forward to math because “I’m good at it.”
Tuesday morning, Henry E. Lackey High School staff and students were among the first to arrive for school in the county as it has the earliest start time, 7:25 a.m.
At the Indian Head school, student drivers began trickling into the parking lot soon after 7 a.m. A cavalcade formed 15 minutes later as students hurried to make it inside for the bell at 7:20.
“7:20, we ring the bell, ready to roll,” Principal James Short said. “I've been waiting for this. I love when the students are here. Makes my day go fast.”
Luckily for the student drivers, who were greeted by an undoubtedly ominous sight, a gamut of police officers and school officials who had gathered along the route from the student parking lot to the school doors turned out to be a friendly welcome and useful reminder to drive safely as part of Charles County Sheriff Rex Coffey's “We Care” campaign.
It was the fourth straight year Coffey (D) had spent the first day of school greeting student drivers and handing out fliers detailing the rules of the road, which this year included recent laws banning text messaging or talking on a cellphone while driving and requiring motorists to slow down or move over one lane when passing a police or emergency vehicle pulled over on the side of the road.
“It's just one of the little things we've been trying to do the last four years to keep it in their face, just another little reminder,” Coffey said.
Coffey started the initiative in 2008 following a school year when nine Charles County teenagers died in car crashes. Since then, two county students have died in accidents.
Coffey already had visited La Plata, Thomas Stone and Westlake high schools. He will go to either McDonough or North Point next year.
While many high school students are able to drive, thousands of students rely on school buses.
School system spokeswoman Katie O’Malley-Simpson said 276 buses picked up students on their regular routes Tuesday morning and the system has 334 buses total.
Two new routes were added to the bus routes, one for special-needs students and the other to accommodate growth at North Point High School, Theodore G. Davis Middle School and William A. Diggs Elementary School.
School officials met Tuesday afternoon to discuss the day and issues that needed addressing.
For students, it was business as usual for the first day.
As the kindergartners at Gale-Bailey marched into the school for the first official time — many arrived last week for orientation — Richardson stood right at the door greeting them.
“Good morning, I love those smiles.”
Staff writer Jeff Newman contributed to this report. gphillips@somdnews.com