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Schools

On first day, one crush of kids

Early enrollment figures show an increase of more than 200 students from last year. And few serious glitches were reported.

By PAULETTE LASH RITCHIE and EDDY RAMIREZ
Published August 11, 2005

	[Times photo: Stephen J. Coddington]
	Charles Adams gives his son Dakota Adams, 5, a hug and kiss on the first day of classes at Citrus Springs Elementary on Wednesday. Dakota's mom, Teasa Adams, background, had already said goodbye to her son when he tried to make a quick getaway to meet his new kindergarten classmates.

The start of the new school year Wednesday offered some familiar sights: traffic snarls, including at least one fender bender at the Lecanto complex; teachers trying to pry little ones from parents; principals scrambling to bring order in crowded lunch rooms; and wide-eyed freshmen roaming the hallways lost.

The first day of school also drew some of the largest crowds of students to the elementary and high schools. Early enrollment figures show an increase of more than 200 students from last year. In all, 15,223 students attended the first day of class, some 700 students shy of the number who had enrolled. That's still higher than last year's 15,029.

The higher attendance translated into crowded classrooms at some schools. At Lecanto High, where more than 1,800 students were enrolled, school officials told students there would be little wiggle room for changes in class schedules. At Citrus High, where student enrollment was at 1,661 at lunchtime, several teachers volunteered to teach classes in their off period.

"They're coming out of the woodwork," Citrus High principal Leigh Ann Bradshaw said as she and two assistant principals tried to get students to form orderly lines in the cafeteria.

Bradshaw and her staff had stayed until 11 p.m. Tuesday tweaking class schedules and making other changes in preparation for the start of school. "Everybody pitched in," she said.

Several schools have new principals this year. Some of them are at new schools and others, like Bradshaw, are school leaders for the first time.

At Inverness Middle, principal Bill Farrell, who transferred from Citrus Springs Middle, could be seen at the ramp greeting students stepping off the bus. There were some excited faces, some glum ones and, Farrell said, "some screams as they recognized their friends."

Despite some overcrowded classrooms, there were few reports of glitches that marred the day. A stream of calls poured into the district offices from parents who were worried that their children were not at their bus stops after school. A fleet of buses transporting elementary students were running late.

Lecanto High got off to a late start after a fender bender involving two students snarled traffic along the main entrance for some time. Sheriff's deputies quickly cleared the scene, but students were still pouring into the school well after the bell had rung. Students wandered into the main office to sort out class scheduling conflicts. There were students dressed in shirts that read, "I love freshman girls" - and others nursing broken limbs.

Superintendent Sam Himmel marked her first school start date by handing out business cards with her office phone number. She urged students to give her a call.

She said she might not get back to every student right away, especially if they all call at once. "You can keep it, throw it away or rip it apart," she said. "But if you need me, I want you to call me."

She urged students who are thinking of dropping out to call her first.

"We're serious about reaching 100 percent graduation rate," she said.

Middle school children are beginning school about an hour earlier than they had for years. But at the elementary schools, the children are coming later.

At Pleasant Grove Elementary, which has newly transferred principal Robert Snider, this turned out to be a problem. Quite a few parents, he said, brought their children to school about an hour early and had to wait for doors to open. Parents handled the situation in stride, he said.

Snider currently has about 703 students and said dropoff went very well. "I'm very, very happy and very pleased," he said.

Cicely Thomas, who came from Citrus Springs Elementary School to Snider's position at Lecanto Primary School, found herself in a comfortable place where she had once been a teacher. It was clear that time had passed, though: One of the current Lecanto Primary teachers is the daughter of one of Thomas' former students. The teacher is in the same classroom where her mother was a student.

As was the case with many schools, buses ran a little late as they adjusted to the new schedules, but that allowed easier parent dropoffs at Lecanto Primary. The approximately 830 children were soon "all in the classrooms, and they're all learning," Thomas said.

Dave Stephens is the new principal at Citrus Springs Middle School, coming from the district office. He has over 900 students and by midmorning said, "Things are going very well."

He commented on the school's new football team and said practice has already started.

At Citrus Springs Elementary School Patricia Douglas is the new principal, replacing Cicely Thomas and coming from Inverness Primary School, where she had been assistant principal. With about 980 students, she had a lot of kids and parents to meet. She greeted many as they arrived, including one parent who looked at her and said, "Who are you?"

"I'm Mrs. Douglas, the principal," she said.

A couple of students were brought in by grandparents who are raising the children. The grandmothers seemed delighted that the children were so comfortable returning to school.

When Tina Gately brought in her first-grade granddaughter, Faith, the child just took off to her classroom. "I am so proud," she said. "That is so wonderful. They just go. I think they feel very safe here, physically, emotionally. They've had a lot of stuff in their lives."

Jane Mazzacua, whose grandson Lucas Whaling attends the school, agreed. "He's just very reassured here," she said. "It's his home, really. His second home."

As a matter of fact, things went so well for the grandmothers that Mazzacua wondered why she had bothered to change her clothes and come with Lucas in the first place.

"Me, too," Gately said. "I should have stayed in my pajamas and dropped her off at the door!"

[Last modified August 10, 2005, 19:44:02]