Energy, excitement evident on first day of school for Poudre School District
Smiling kids wearing new backpacks posed in front of the school sign, standing still just long enough for moms and dads to snap a picture or two before they raced off to find their friends.
Principal Mark Strasberg, with a stop sign in hand, served as the crossing guard to stop traffic in the drop-off lane so others could make it safely through the crosswalk.
There were a lot of smiles from the students and staff and a tear or two shed by parents giving their children hugs as they headed into Olander Elementary on Thursday morning to start the new school year.
“She’s thrilled to be back at school,” Emily Seems said as she was taking pictures of her daughter, Edie, before her first day of third grade. “I think it’s because of Olander; this feels like a family.”
“The best part is meeting new friends and seeing my teachers,” Edie said as she ran over to hug Lacey Bryner, who had been her kindergarten teacher in 2020-21, when PSD began school remotely because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Olander, located in west Fort Collins near the intersection of Horsetooth and Taft Hill roads, had 328 students enrolled for the 2023-24 school year Thursday, Strasberg said. And all but a handful came with a parent or two in tow for the first day of school throughout the Poudre School District. One school bus that will likely be packed next week, he said, only had a half-dozen or so kids riding it Thursday.
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The excitement surrounding the start of a new school year was evident across the district.
District Superintendent Brian Kingsley rode a school bus to Tavelli Elementary in northeast Fort Collins, greeting parents at stops and students as they boarded, and was planning to visit several schools across the district throughout the day, a PSD spokesperson said. Staff at Shepardson Elementary on the east side of the city rolled out a red carpet and lined up along it, waving pompoms to welcome students into the building.
PSD is Colorado’s ninth-largest school district with 30,105 students last fall, according to the Colorado Department of Education. It has 55 schools, drawing students from more than 1,800 square miles.
Jakob Grothe said his kids “have been ready for a couple weeks now” to get back to Olander. They ramped up their reading and other activities at home in preparation of the return, he said. His son, Ethan, is in fourth grade, and his daughter, Ava, in first.
Olander fifth-grader Kat Kriesman said she was anxious to “hang out with my friends” in her final year of elementary school.
Her parents, Jen Scanlon and Mark Kriesman, and older sister, Alexa, were headed to Gib’s Bagels afterwards for a snack before taking Alexa to Rocky Mountain High School, where she is a freshman, for the 9 a.m. start of classes there.
“And then this afternoon, it’ll be the other way around, because (Kat) gets done at 2:20 p.m., and (Alexa) gets done at 4,” Mark Kriesman said.
The first day of school is always special, said Strasberg, Olander’s principal since 2013. He returned to work in late July to get ready for the new school year. Teachers and other staff returned last week.
“All that work, all that planning you’re doing getting ready, culture building, and then the people that matter show up,” Strasberg said. “It’s one of the best days of the year. It’s exciting, everyone’s happy, smiles all around. It’s a good day.”
Reporter Kelly Lyell covers education, breaking news, some sports and other topics of interest for the Coloradoan. Contact him at kellylyell@coloradoan.com, twitter.com/KellyLyell or facebook.com/KellyLyell.news.
This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Energy, excitement evident across PSD on first day of school
