Teachers, principals, superintendent greet kids as they head back to school in Brevard

Even in a whirlwind of parents hugging their kids goodbye, students scrambling to find their new classrooms and teachers making last-minute preparations for the first day of class, Jessica Speiser still managed to greet every child by name as they arrived at Discovery Elementary.

The literacy coach, who helped make sure students crossed the street safely on the first day of class, was excited to kick off her 11th year at the Palm Bay school.

“(I’m excited) just to see the kids, to see their faces again,” Speiser said.

Thursday marked the start of school in Brevard for most grades, though kindergarten doesn’t start until Aug. 15, with VPK starting Aug. 17. More than 70,000 students are enrolled throughout the district this year.

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At Discovery Elementary, kids were greeted by teachers, school Principal Scott Corso and Brevard Public Schools Superintendent Mark Rendell.

“This is what it’s all about, teachers and students in classrooms, and it’s exciting that now we can make it happen,” Rendell said.

The superintendent, who took on the position at the beginning of June, greeted each child with a fist bump as they passed him on the sidewalk to head into the school.

Valeria Molina’s two daughters, Amiyah and London, stopped to take a photo with Principal Corso before running off to join their friends. That’s what the second- and fifth-graders were looking forward to the most, Molina said.

“They’re most excited to be back with their friends, but they’re excited to learn new things this year, too,” Molina said.

She added that the preparation for heading back to school had been filled with fun for the kids.

“Back to school shopping was a blast, and then we went to a small waterpark last weekend for some last-minute fun," she said.

First-grader Wilson Lentz was up bright and early, ready to start the day.

“He was so excited to come to school this morning, he was up at 5:30,” said mom Dana Lentz.

At age 6, Wilson's favorite subject is the playground. Thursday morning, he ran around the sidewalk with friends ahead of class.

“He’s going to have a blast,” Lentz said, adding that he had attended kindergarten at Discovery the prior year and loved his teachers.

Around the district

Rendell was scheduled to visit Heritage High School and Southwest Middle School after his stop at Discovery Elementary. He also made a trip to the south bus compound at 5:30 Thursday morning.

A lot has gone into prepping for the start of school, the superintendent said. Over the summer, the district worked with the facilities department to improve schools across the district, hired more than 540 new teachers and worked on security features that require everyone to be buzzed in prior to accessing the front offices of some schools. They were also able to give bus drivers a pay increase and filled most driver positions so that drivers will no longer have to drive double routes.

“Our kids weren’t getting to school on time, or they weren’t getting home at a decent hour, and with that increase in pay, we’ve been able to hire enough drivers that … once the new drivers get through training, we’ll have a bus driver for every route, and it will be on time,” Rendell said.

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For Eau Gallie High School students, their first day was unexpectedly rescheduled. At 8:07 a.m., the district posted to their social media that the school had a power outage and that Florida Power and Light estimated the power wouldn't be back until early afternoon. School was canceled for the day, with the first day of class set to occur Friday.

Though Rendell was only able to make it to a few schools in the southern end of the county, that didn't keep school administrators and teachers from making sure kids got a special greeting on their first day. At Emma Jewel Charter School in Cocoa, Principal Thomas Cole and men from the community formed a "high five" line, giving each student high fives as they headed to class after eating breakfast in the cafeteria.

"I'm proud of all the work we've done over the summer," Rendell said. "Really excited for the kids to come back and start another year."

Finch Walker is the education reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Walker at 321-290-4744 or fwalker@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @_finchwalker.

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Welcome back! High fives, smiles fly as Brevard school year kicks off