First week of school in the books

(The Daily Triplicate/Photo Illustration/Bryant Anderson).

By Adam Madison

Triplicate staff writer

The administrators and teachers from the Del Norte Unified School District can give a sigh of relief now that the first week of school is over.

The first day is usually the most stressful, according to Del Norte High school secretary Ruth Clay.

"The first day of school is always crazy, but it's OK, we're still here," Clay said, in between a break of nearly endless phone calls on Sept. 4.

Now that the first week is over, some of the principals from the district's schools had some time to comment.

"It went really well, I was really impressed with the staff," said DNHS Principal Geoff Barney.

Barney said the first week at the high school ended with no trouble.

"It looks like we have about 1,100," Barney said about students enrolled by Friday.

"I know that we have some more on their way, they come in all year," he said about the increasing enrollment.

Sometimes students who are enrolled "don't show up the first week for various reasons," Barney said.

According to Barney, there was only one change in the class schedule this year.

"The passing-period changed from seven minutes to five minutes," he said, noting there was some confusion, but it was settled by the end of the week.

There were also additional algebra classes added to the curriculum and class line-up, Barney said.

He said the classes were added because "that's one of the areas that we noticed our students are struggling in."

Principal Paige Swan at Smith River Elementary was happy about the first week of school as well.

"All the children we were expecting to come back did," Swan said about his school's enrollment.

"We were also very excited because we have a lot of new staff here," he said.

Swan also talked enthusiastically about a new program created to explain the need for good nutrition.

"Smith River is going to have farmers markets directly from the school garden," he said about one of the new programs that started this week.

"It's how we are going to teach the (Smith River) community about nutrition," Swan said.

The principal of Bess Maxwell Elementary, Steve Godla, was happiest with his teaching staff's performance during the first week.

"We have a veteran teaching staff," he said.

"They've all taught at least two or three years," he said about his staff.

Godla noted that each on-staff teacher had been at the school for at least a year.

"There were only a few changes as far as our daily schedule," Godla said.

He said the biggest change was "three lunches a day, to two lunches a day."

"It gives us more time in the morning, which is our prime instructional time," he said about the reasons for the change.

Godla also explained that some teachers teach multiple grades in the same classroom, such as first and second.

"It's just an added challenge for the teachers," he said.

Godla said he was happiest with "the teachers' positive attitude in making the parents and students feel welcome."

Crescent Elk Middle School Principal Bill Hartwick is optimistic about the new school year.

"Enrollment was down, but we have been gaining students every day," he said. "This has been one of the best openings I've been a part of."

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