On the morning of August 14, school buses across Arlington sputtered out of service, some for the first time since May, as commuters rerouted their trips around the now-blinking yellow lights in school zones.

“I’m ready for summer to start,” Jack Mitchell said with a laugh as he entered his first day of sixth grade at JB Little Elementary.

Around him, students streamed down the school’s main corridor, some yawning and trying to shake off their summer nap patterns, others – carrying backpacks half their size – with their hands tightly wrapped around their parents’ fingers.

For Jack, this morning marked the start of his final year at Little before moving on to junior high. For his brother Anson, who is in third grade, it marked the beginning of the year in which he can finally delve deeper into the division.

And for the preschool and kindergarten children sitting in rows along the walls outside their new classrooms, the hallway was their first introduction to the next twelve years of school.

For some it was easier than for others.

As five-year-old Walter Guerra cautiously inspected his new kindergarten classroom, his father, Jesus, encouraged him from the doorway. Jesus’ shirt was still damp from Walter’s tearful goodbye a few seconds earlier.

Kelsey Stehr, Walter’s new kindergarten teacher, waved to him with a smile. In her nine years as a teacher, she said she was well acquainted with the emotions of the first day.

“Because I have to deal with my own emotions too,” she said. “We try to turn those big emotions into big, happy emotions.”

It’s difficult for about three days, says Stehr, but in the second week everyone starts to adjust.

Edgar Montez spent the morning convincing his youngest daughter, Liana, that adjustment was possible as he dropped her off at kindergarten, one hand holding Liana’s pink backpack on his shoulder, the other hand holding Liana’s head.

Montez stood in a similar spot last year with his eldest daughter Lucy, who is now attending kindergarten.

“I’m proud, emotional, all of it,” he said.

Little Elementary, one of the oldest schools in Arlington, has about 750 students. As of August 14, 68 of them were attending preschool.

Principal Beth Anne Woodard says the preschool age group is particularly close to her heart. Woodard inherited her love of early childhood education from her mother, who was one of Arlington’s first preschool teachers and worked as the district’s early childhood education coordinator.

As the morning child drop-offs died down, a faint signal came from the intercom.

“Good morning, little rascals,” Woodard said through the loudspeaker, smiling. The morning announcements seemed natural to Woodard, who attended nearby Duff Elementary as a child and has now been the school’s principal for 15 years.

Woodard led students through the Pledge of Allegiance and a few seconds of calming breathing exercises — “Back straight, we take a deep breath” — although those might have been more appreciated by teachers, she said.

Then the classrooms closed their doors and the school day began. Within half an hour, the hallways were no longer full of families, but almost silent, probably in the same rhythm as the other 76 schools in the city.

Tomorrow, next week and every school day until next June, the routine will be repeated.

Drew Shaw is a reporter for the Arlington Report. You can reach him at [email protected] or @shawlings601. At The Arlington Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our policy of editorial independence here.

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