NORWAY — “Welcome back” was heard frequently Monday morning as the majority of Oxford Hills School District staff and students returned to school for a new year.
“Good morning, Graham. Good morning, Connor,” Rowe Elementary School Principal George Sincerbeaux called out as he took his traditional place in the school’s bus loop to direct the buses and help students who were arriving by car and walking safely cross in the bus loop early Monday morning.
The multitasking veteran principal is one of four elementary school principals in the district’s seven elementary school buildings, plus Oxford Hills Middle School Principal Troy Eastman and Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School Principal Ted Moccia busy Monday making sure staff and students were all where they should be.
Students in grades eight, 10, 11 and 12 return to school Tuesday, Aug. 28, but the middle and high school welcomed seventh- and ninth-grade students Monday.
The fog lifted just moments before the start of the first day of school Monday as hundreds of students and their parents arrived at the Rowe Elementary School by bus, car and walking.
Many students came with their parents, who carried cameras and camcorders to record their child’s first day.
Seven-year-old Zoe Higgens, who sported a new pink-and-black dress with matching sneakers that blinked, said she was looking forward to “doing stuff” such as reading and math. She waited in the hallway with her mother and other parents and students for the doors to open so they could go to their new classroom and start the new year.
This year the most significant changes are in the Waterford and Harrison elementary schools. Some prekindergarten and all kindergarten, first and second grade students from Waterford and Harrison will attend Waterford Elementary School. Third-, fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders from Waterford and Harrison will attend Harrison Elementary School.
With the new school plan came new bus routes, and school officials reported that the first day went fairly smoothly with only a few glitches.
ldixon@sunjournal.com
-
- Rowe Elementary School custodian Terry Cram greeted students returning to school Monday morning in Norway with a high five. Cram acts as crossing guard on Main Street and has traditionally worn his own version of “back to school” new outfit, much to the delight of the children and their parents
-
- Rowe Elementary School Principal George Sincerbeaux gives the signal to students that it’s safe to cross by an incoming bus on the first day of school Monday morning in Norway. Teachers stood at the bus loop along with Sincerbeaux to greet the students coming back to classes for their first day of the new school year.
-
- Carrie and Dan Hart and their children, Carter, 7, and Gracie, 5, race up the wide granite stairs of the Rowe Elementary School in Norway for the first day of class Monday.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
