Officials at 14 districts report few problems

Neither broken-down buses nor electrical outages nor steamy weather could keep 54,000 pupils from returning to Lancaster County's public schools to start the new year Monday.

Ready or not, the youngsters ended their summer vacations and returned to the classrooms at dozens of schools as 14 county districts began the 2010-2011 academic year.

School officials said cooler, fall-like temperatures - the mercury hit 92 degrees Monday - might have helped the back-to-school transition, but they reported few opening-day problems.

"It was a great day, a great start to the new year," superintendent Amy Slamp of Elizabethtown Area School District said. "The students all arrived on time and safe and made it home on time and safe."

E-town welcomed back about 4,000 pupils at its seven schools, two of which held "team-building" activities to celebrate the new year.

At Bainbridge Elementary, the entire school took a break from "the three Rs" at 1:15 p.m. to gather in the shade on the front lawn to eat watermelon.

At Rheems Elementary, fourth- and fifth-graders, their teachers and other staff members participated in a back-to-school "jam," working in teams to complete physical and mental challenges, such as building houses out of marshmallows and uncooked pasta.

In Manheim Central School District, superintendent Bill Clark started his opening day with a 90-minute ride on bus No. 32.

Clark, who joined the Central staff in January, said he's ridden a big yellow bus on the first day of school for the past seven years.

The tradition gives him a chance to learn about students, experience the rigors of a bus ride and see firsthand what it's like for parents to send their children off each morning, Clark said.

"You work so hard getting everything ready in the summer for the start of school that it's neat to see their faces and how excited they are," he said.

"It kind of gives you those warm fuzzies that you sometimes need in this job."

In other districts, a couple of opening-day glitches were reported.

In Donegal, a power outage briefly cut electricity to Maytown Elementary and Donegal Middle schools between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m., superintendent Shelly Reidel said.

Power was restored within a few minutes, she said, and the school day proceeded normally.

An accident on Route 222 Monday morning delayed some high school buses in Lampeter-Strasburg School District, superintendent Bob Frick said.

Hempfield High School wasn't able to open its temporary classrooms - designed to ease a space crunch - in time for Monday's opening.

And officials elsewhere reported some delays in the drop-off and pick-up of students because of school construction projects.

In Manheim Township School District, a group of fifth-graders was briefly stranded Monday morning at Brecht Elementary School when a bus assigned to shuttle them to Bucher Elementary broke down.

Other buses picked up the pupils, and they were only a few minutes late for the start of the school day, Bucher principal Jennifer Mack said.

The school, which underwent an $18.4 million expansion and renovation in the past year, has added three fifth-grade classes, including two from Brecht.

"The kids really seemed to mesh well," fifth-grade teacher Megan Keener said. "It's just a great group of students."

Keener said the youngsters were marveling at Bucher's new gymnasium, cafeteria and play areas - all of which were under construction last year.

Perhaps the biggest kid-pleaser, though, was the cafeteria's new frozen drink machine, which dispensed raspberry and cherry "slushies" (made with 100 percent fruit juice, Mack noted) in the cafeteria.

Bucher teacher Will Gillis said he was probably more nervous than some of his students about the first day back at school.

Gillis, who has taught second grade at Bucher for three years, had trouble sleeping Sunday night.
"I was thinking about all the things that were going to happen and my lessons - were they going to work out the way I'd planned?" he said.

"It was one of those situations where you just take a deep breath, and as soon as you see those first couple of kids walk in, something just clicks and you go into what you know," he said.

"And that was it. It went very well."

In addition to Manheim Township, L-S, Elizabethtown, Hempfield, Donegal and Manheim Central, Conestoga Valley, Octorara, Cocalico, Ephrata, Penn Manor, Pequea Valley, Solanco and Eastern Lancaster County school districts began the new year Monday.

Tuesday, upperclassmen will return at Lancaster Catholic High School, which welcomed freshmen and transfer students Monday.

School District of Lancaster pupils start their school year Thursday, Columbia students return Sept. 7, and Warwick students start the new year Sept. 8.

Staff writers Enelly Betancourt and Taylor Bundy contributed to this story.

Brian Wallace is a Lancaster Newspapers reporter. Contact him at bwallace@lnpnews.com.