Thousands of Kenai Peninsula students returned to classrooms Wednesday for the first day of the new school year. The day was marked with excitement – from district students and employees – and was an opportunity to set expectations for the year ahead.
As students arrived at Skyview Middle School in Soldotna Wednesday morning, the first person they encountered was a beaming Shonia Werner. She’s the school’s principal and says the first day of school is all about making students feel welcome.
“They get a lot taller over the summer, usually between seventh grade and eighth grade, but it's fun,” she said. “They're all there's a lot of positivity in the air. There's a lot of smiles, and kids are bringing the joy today.”
Skyview is welcoming one of largest-ever classes of seventh graders this year – almost 200 kids. Werner says that makes the first day a flurry of activity to make sure students know where things are and get to their classes.
Hadley Kornelis is starting eighth grade at Skyview. She says she’s a little sad that summer’s over, but is excited to see her friends and about her class schedule – especially geometry. Now that she’s an upper classman, Hadley says it’s weird to have a locker on the bottom floor, rather than the top floor. For the incoming seventh graders, she has some advice.
“Don't worry about the first day,” she said. “It seems really stressful, and it feels like it takes a long time, but once you get in the groove, it's really easy to just go along with it.”
Around the district, multiple teachers said they’re spending the first day setting classroom expectations with students.
At River City Academy, Principal Shea Nash explained the school’s traffic light policy for student use of cell phones, head phones and other devices and accessories. The traffic light policy works like you think – a red light means no devices at all, while a green light means free use of devices.
“Sometimes you might be like, ‘I want to work and listen to music’, right?” he said. “Or something like that? OK, but the teacher is the one who is going to set that expectation for the class.”
Over the last year, student cell-phone use has received a lot of attention by school board members who want to limit classroom distractions. This will be the fourth year that Skyview is what Werner calls a “bell-to-bell, no cell” school. After arriving on campus, students are expected to turn off their cell phones and other smart devices and put them in their lockers.
“We have noticed that, yes, our behavior issues have gone down,” she said. “Kids aren't checking social media, they're not on the phone, they're and they're talking to each other. So our lunch times are so much louder than they ever were. But I love it, because that means they're talking to each other and they're engaging, learning, those social, emotional coping skills.”
But cell phone policies aren’t the only ones students have to follow at school.
Kenai Middle School Principal Vaughn Dosko briefed students on school safety.
“Very rarely at Kenai Middle School, do we ever have any issues like that,” he said
. “Because once again, you guys are middle schoolers, you're responsible and you're doing the right thing. So please, if something doesn't seem right, come talk to us.”
And at Kaleidoscope School of Arts and Science in Kenai, first and second grade teacher Rebecca Arness helped students learn each other’s names with a clapping game.
“My name is Ms. Arness, my name is Ms. Arness,” the group chanted.
Of course, there are some nerves. Werner, the Skyview principal, says first-day jitters aren’t just a student thing – she gets them, too. But she says schools are setting students up for success, and employees will be around all school year seeing that through.
