School bells are ringing

They came by foot, greeting friends by name,

By car, by bus, on bikes they came.

Students across North Idaho filed back into classrooms Tuesday morning for the first day back to school with shouts, smiles and nervous jitters.

Teachers and students called to each other, reuniting after the summer. Parents took first-day-of-school photos and comforted crying new kindergarteners.

“The first day of school is always fabulous because you get to meet all the new kids, and you get to see all the awesome kids that grew about a foot,” said Sharyn Freemyers, librarian at Winton Elementary School. “I've seen probably a couple-hundred that have run at me and hugged me, so it's always the best feeling in the world when they remember you.”

Freemyers worked with other school staff in the morning, directing kids to their teachers and classrooms.

Billy and Janelle Allen waved to their son Ketch as he walked to his classroom with the other kindergartners.

“He just waved goodbye to us and smiled,” Janelle Allen said. “So I think he's gonna be alright.”

Billy Allen said it was their first experience dropping a kid off for school, so they were a little nervous and excited, but Ketch seemed alright.

“If he was sad or nervous, then we'd probably be sad,” Allen said. “But he seemed cool so we’re doing OK.”

Brianna Birdsall, Winton Elementary School counselor, said the next six weeks will be spent teaching the kids about community, building routines and relationships and getting acquainted.

“We're so excited to be back,” Birdsall said. “First day is always slightly chaotic but super exciting for our staff, our kids and our families, and it's going to be a great year.”

Birdsall said many of the families have been through a lot the past couple of years with COVID-19.

“We're really excited to see kids in person,” Birdsall said. “That's really big for our families.”

Jace Whitson, a fourth grader, said he was tired Tuesday morning but (a little) ready for school to start again, and looking forward to reading the most.

“Mostly they're just excited to be back and able to see friends and probably have a normal year hopefully,” said Jessica Gillaspey, who walked Jace and Halle Whitson to school.

Over at Ramsey Magnet School of Science, an elementary school off of Kathleen Avenue, fifth-grade teacher Mandi Ferguson guided her class in a discussion for setting rules for the year.

“A lot of our classrooms are student-centered, so what that means is the kids come in and set up the rooms and they set the rules and so they get to make all those decisions instead of it being us teachers giving them,” Ferguson said. “We hand over as much as we possibly can because these are their classrooms too.”

To celebrate the first day back, the teachers wore lab coats they tie-dyed during their staff retreat.

Anya Low, a fifth grader in Ferguson’s class, said she was nervous to meet kids at school but excited to hang out with her friends and learn new things.

Ferguson said because it's a science school, Ramsey Magnet School of Science integrates all of its learning through science units and created a new STEM shop over the summer, where students can build and create science experiments.

“The kids are super excited to dive right back into school,” Ferguson said. “We did some stem challenges this morning with Play-Doh.”

As far as masks, the Coeur d’Alene School District Board of Trustees has not voted to require masks be worn to school, but they are strongly recommended in the COVID safety guidelines.

“In my room I have some kids in masks and some kids not in masks, it's really not an issue,” Ferguson said. “They’re super respectful and kind of each other’s opinions.”