XENIA — No news is usually good news when it comes to opening day for a school.
That was exactly the case for Greene County districts. All but Fairborn are now in session (Fairborn opens after Labor Day due to construction delays) and no major issues were reported.
“This has been a great first week, filled with well-received speakers at convocation, open house events, and special orientation days for incoming students in every building,” said Xenia Superintendent Dr. Gabe Lofton. “The planned staggered start has really eliminated some of the overwhelm for sixth and ninth grade students entering new environments at Warner Middle School and Xenia High School. And I anticipate the same support for our incoming Kindergarten students on Monday and Tuesday next week.”
Lofton said there may be a few “minor hiccups” along the way but that’s to be expected.
Bellbrook-Sugarcreek schools started on Thursday with mainly transportation issues.
“The first day went quite well throughout the Bellbrook-Sugarcreek Local School District,” Superintendent Dr. Doug Cozad said. “While the buses ran a little late on Day 1, I don’t anticipate that being a problem once the kinks get worked out. Parents and students are getting used to our new safety protocols and the students — especially the younger ones — seem really happy to get back into the classrooms and meet their teachers.”
In Cedarville, Superintendent Chad Mason tried to steer clear of using the word “smooth” to avoid jinxing the district, which was off to a fantastic start.
“I kept trying to avoid saying that as I did not want to ruin our great beginning to the new year,” he said. “We had the usual things running a little slowly with making sure students were on the right bus, in the right class, staff getting to know students and students getting acclimated to new classrooms. But all-in-all, I was very pleased with all the students and staff, it was a great first day.”
Opening day a little farther south on S.R. 72 was also unremarkable (that’s a good thing).
“We have had a great start to the day,” Greeneview Middle School Principal Wendy Callewaert said. “Students and teachers were excited and ready to start.”
High school principal Neal Kasner agreed.
“Things went well at the high school as well,” he said. “Due to the herculean effort of Mr. Andy Myers and the flexibility of our English teachers, all of our students have their Chromebooks. It is always wonderful to see how excited our students get to see friends that they had not seen since May.“
