Summer, it seemed, wasn’t ready to be over.
With temperatures hovering in the high 80s Tuesday, the sun beat down as if it were the Fourth of July weekend.
But at Mill Creek Middle School, there were obvious signs summer was on its way out.
The parking lot was full and the grounds buzzed, with students as well as teachers.
It was a day of student orientations at Mill Creek, a scene playing throughout the Kent School District, for the start of the 2010-11 school year.
With school scheduled to start Sept. 1, students, teachers and other school staff are counting down the days until classes begin.
Teacher Sharon Clark was one of those staff buzzing around the Mill Creek school yard Tuesday, helping students and their parents make sense of where classrooms where, and what forms they needed.
“I just started setting things up in my classroom,” said Clark, who teaches eighth-grade social studies, and who at the moment was sitting at a table in a large sun hat, handing out photo forms with help from Mill Creek eighth-graders Billeh Scego and Jimmy Aung. The mood was relaxed, as Clark hung out with the two, chatting with them and giving them a hard time.
Tuesday’s scene day was far different than a year ago, when teachers were out picketing in the streets, calling for better classroom conditions, more teaching support and better wages. That turbulent chapter, which dragged on through September until the administration and teachers’ union hammered out a new contract, seems largely on the back burner this year, as teachers begin their migration back to the classroom.
“It’s much less stressful this year,” Clark observed. “There’s a certain amount of trepidation with the new administration, but nothing compared to last year. I think we’re all just kinda coming back.”
Clark noted there have been a number of changes at her school, as staff make due with limited resources and new teaching assignments.
“A lot of people are shifting around, trying different areas of expertise,” Clark said.
There are positives in that kind of change – notably that it keeps subjects and teaching methods fresh, she said.
“There’s nothing worse than a teacher with a file cabinet with 30-year-old dittos in it,” Clark said, with a chuckle.
Vacations set
Parents and students also can expect a year of regular-length breaks, in contrast to last year’s school schedule, which had to be adjusted to absorb the days lost in the strike.
The Thanksgiving holiday this year runs two days: Nov. 25 and 26.
Winter vacation runs from Dec. 20 to Dec. 31, with school resuming Jan. 3, following the weekend.
Presidents’ Break is Feb. 21-22.
Spring Vacation runs April 4-8, with school resuming April 11, following the weekend.
The last day of school is June 16, unless there are unanticipated district-wide school closures during the year (such as snow days). School-closure make-up days could be scheduled to make up for that loss in classroom time.
For more information about the coming school year, visit the Kent School District Web site at www.kent.k12.wa.us.
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