Back to school

Tuesday marked a day of firsts in Catawba County.

It was the first day back to school for many students. At Snow Creek Elementary School, the county's newest school, it was the first full day of class.

It was Morgan Whisenant's first day in the first school in the state to be LEED-certified under the new guidelines for environmentally green schools. Formerly a student at Clyde Campbell Elementary, Whisenant, 10, said she's happy to be at Snow Creek.

"This school's a lot bigger," she said. "I like being here. A lot of my friends are here. I think this year's going to be good."

Mason Day, who also was redistricted to Snow Creek from Clyde Campbell Elementary, said he was torn between wanting to stay at his old school and wanting to come to a new one. However, Day said he'd seen several things he liked at his new school already.

"There's a bigger cafeteria, classes are more organized and there are less students," he said.

Although most things went smoothly on Snow Creek's first day, it was evident some things still need to be worked out. At the drop-off/pick-up area, some parents dropped off students in the wrong lanes.

Snow Creek Elementary Principal Wally Zahler, who was outside Tuesday morning to greet students and parents and help them unload from their cars, was quick to politely tell them to use the proper lane in the future.

One bus also didn't start Tuesday morning. A replacement bus picked up the children, but it was running a few minutes behind the normal pickup time.

All in all, though, Zahler said Snow Creek Elementary's first day went well. He attributes that, in part, to an open house Aug. 21 that was widely attended.

"We were slammed," Zahler said. "And we opened the school up to the community on Saturday, so they could come look, since they'd been so patient with us during the construction phase, and that was well-attended, too."

Once students got inside the school and into their classrooms, it was business as usual. Heather Lyerly, a fifth-grade teacher who taught at Clyde Campbell Elementary, said she was very happy to be in a new school this year — especially since she taught classes in a trailer for seven of her 10 years as a teacher.

"This is like a dream come true, with the administration and the facilities," Lyerly said. "And my class has gone very smoothly. They just came in, got their stuff and sat down. They've been very quiet."

Tuesday also marked the first day Hickory Public Schools' Superintendent Lillie Cox toured all the schools in the system to see how they operated at capacity.

"I'm making sure things are going smoothly, the buses are running OK and am looking at the class sizes and the number of students who haven't already enrolled for classes," Cox said.

In Hope Martin's kindergarten classroom at Southwest Elementary, students were learning the four basic rules of class: How to be safe, kind, respectful and responsible.

Five-year-old Brendon Fleming said he was initially nervous and excited about coming to school. He got over it quickly, though, becoming one of the more vocal students in the class.

Zymerhia Izard, 4, was also quick to say how she felt.

"I wasn't scared," she said. "I want to play."

The students gathered around Martin not long after discussing the rules of the classroom to hear her read a book to the class. That's where Cox found them while touring the school. She greeted them and watched Martin read before going to a few other classrooms in the school.

In a first-grade classroom, Cox asked the students what they thought they would learn this year. She asked students who could read. A few raised their hands.

"We want all of you to read by the end of this year, and be able to add," Cox said.

In the second-grade classrooms, Cox again asked who could read, as well as add and subtract. Every hand went up.

"This is giving me a chance to see what the students already know and to meet the teachers one-on-one," Cox said.

Some classes were doing introduction activities, so students could get to know one another and the teacher. Some classes were already doing class work. Cox said both are important.