Good to be back and see old friends

The new school year started in the Region One School District  on Monday, Aug. 27. Children in elementary school and young adults at Housatonic Valley Regional High School returned to their campuses early Monday morning; freshmen at the high school had already spent a day getting oriented to their new schedules and campus on Friday, Aug. 24. 

At Salisbury Central School, a little after 8:30 a.m., the area in front of the upper building was a seething mass of small children, teachers and staff, and parents taking photographs.

First-grade teacher Chelsea O’Brien checked names off a list on a clipboard. After everyone was accounted for, she led the group into the building.

Karen Lundeen, second-grade teacher, was doing much the same thing, minus the clipboard.  

With construction work ongoing at the front entrance of Sharon Center School, new and returning students filed through the lobby of the gymnasium at 8:30 a.m. for their first day of the 2018 school year. 

Despite the change in procedure this year, the majority of first day proceedings went unchanged: Sharon Center Principal Karen Manning, in a red blazer that evokes the school’s colors, still greeted children who arrived with parents or hopped off the bus. 

Mostly students rushed by the greeting teachers, dodging hugs to barrel inside and embrace their friends. In the narrow foyer they looked like a flock of overstuffed backpacks with arms in motion.  

The new crop of youngsters wore name tags, looking up with wide eyes at the older students — some of the girls with blue and mauve-streaked hair, perhaps inspired by the film, “Lady Bird.” 

There are also some new teachers for the students to meet and adjust to. Photos and bios of all the new teachers in the region can be found on Page A3.

— Patrick L. Sullivan and       Alexander Wilburn