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WELCOME BACK!: STUDENTS EXCITED, JITTERY ON FIRST DAY

By Wilson Brown/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Friday, August 19, 2005 10:37 PM CDT

Large, yellow school buses peppered streets Friday as children with their backpacks slung over their shoulders started their first day back at school.

"He woke up this morning all excited," said Timothy Reynolds with a chuckle as he walked his son, Tyler, to his first day of kindergarten at Lakeside Montessori School.

"He's excited, but we have a long way to go," he said as Tyler fidgeted with his "Fantastic Four" backpack. "Me and his mother should've gotten up at the crack of dawn."

Tyler's older brother, Timothy, was already in the building starting his first day of third grade.

Meanwhile, Lakeside's teachers came out to greet new and returning students and their parents before class began at 8 a.m.

"We're going to go into school and have a great day," said Susan Westfall, who teaches first, second and third grade, as she rounded up her students and led them through the front doors.

As Westfall spoke, students stood in line with nervous smiles on their faces -- clutching their bags and pencil holders, waiting to walk into class.

Lakeside expected more than 200 students to enter its doors Friday, according to Georgia Sanders, curriculum coordinator for the Pine Bluff School District.

"This is great," Sanders said, arms crossed, as she watched the children get out of their parents' cars and onto the sidewalks.

"We've been looking forward to this day," she said. "And I love looking at those smiling faces."

Many public school students across the state returned to class Friday -- the first day the state allowed school to start this year.

"Oh, we're all excited," Westfall said. "Those of us at Lakeside are happy to have another year here.

"We're anxious to start learning," she said.

The same could also be said of many of the students as they congregated in the halls holding their parents' hands before the first ring of the school bell.

"He was so excited, he jumped up out of bed this morning, but I don't know how long that'll last," Reynolds said looking at Tyler.

"We might have to pull him out of bed in six months, " he added with a laugh.

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