By DANIELLE RUSH
Tribune staff writer
Kokomo — The heat may have made Thursday feel like the middle of summer, but the yellow school buses on city streets Thursday morning are a sure sign autumn is just around the corner.
Students in the Kokomo-Center and Taylor Community schools returned to classes Thursday, while the remaining area schools open next week.
Both schools that opened Thursday began new eras, with Kokomo-Center having consolidated from nine to six elementary schools since the end of the previous school year, and partially consolidated from four to two middle schools. Taylor High School’s Titan New Tech High School also opened Thursday, with its first freshman class. The program will add a high school grade each year for the next four years.
At Kokomo’s Sycamore Elementary, a line of children and parents formed outside the front door in the hour before the doors opened, waiting to make their way to classrooms.
Jesse Duvall waited with sons Jeremiah, a fifth-grader, and Jacob, a third-grader, both anxiously waiting to meet new friends. The family recently moved to Kokomo from Goshen.
“I’m just excited to go to school,” Jacob said.
Further up in line, first-grader Ella Biggs waited to start her first full day of school, after attending half-day kindergarten last year. She dressed up for the occasion, in a floral-print dress and freshly painted pink fingernails and toenails.
Her mother, Tally Biggs, said going to school all day will be an adjustment for Ella, while her dad said it will be a big change for their family, too.
“I’m going to miss Ella around the house,” he said.
Ella brought her lunch, in a box that matches her pink polka-dotted backpack, but she was also prepared with lunch money in case she liked what was being served in the cafeteria.
Kirshana Tyler had her hands full, waiting in line with five students and carrying her 3-week-old daughter, Miyarah, in her arms. She said she was looking forward to the first day “just so they can be able to learn new stuff and meet their teachers.”
Once inside, teachers and staff members waited with class lists in hand, letting people know where to find their classrooms. Down the halls, teachers waited outside classrooms to welcome their new students.
Fourth-grade teacher Marcella Pettigrew checked students off her list and handed each one a picture card, which corresponded with a picture on a desk in the room, to let children know where to sit.
She said meeting the kids is the best part of the first day of school.
Fifth-grade teacher Kim Maxwell-Murdock, also known as “Mrs. M and M,” wore a black rhinestone and sequined shirt that said “fifth grade rocks.” She said one of the other fifth-grade teachers bought a shirt like that, and she and another fifth-grade teacher stayed up late Wednesday night making their matching shirts.
Kokomo Superintendent Jeff Hauswald, who started with the corporation on July 1, visited all the district schools Thursday and said for the most part, the day went smoothly.
He said in some schools, redistricting meant half the teachers and students were new to the building, but there did not seem to be much confusion about where kids were supposed to go.
Hauswald said enrollment seems to be about where district officials had projected, and there have been many new students enrolling.
At Taylor High School, Principal Eric Hartman said the first day as a new tech high school was not much different than before the conversion began.
“We’re just getting acclimated. We’re just glad we have classrooms with desks and tables and chairs, and computers are coming. We’re excited.”
Part of the new tech program includes a computer for each student in each classroom and project-based learning.
Hartman said some other new tech high schools that have opened this year have had software glitches, but he hopes those are worked out before Taylor students start using the programs.
Hartman said enrollment was up at the high school, and staff had to be sure there were enough tables and chairs in the cafeteria to accommodate the larger classes.
“We’re getting a lot more enrollees than we are withdrawals at each grade level.”
Classes start Monday at the Tri-Central Community Schools. Northwestern Schools and Maconaquah start Tuesday, and Eastern-Howard, Tipton and Western students return Wednesday. Peru Community Schools open Thursday.
• Danielle Rush is the Kokomo Tribune education reporter. She can be reached at 765-454-8585 or danielle.rush@kokomotribune.com.
