Starting fresh at Greenacres

Two turns to the right.

Back one turn to the left, and stop on the number.

Inside a hallway Thursday morning at Greenacres Middle School, Kaleigh Fox, 11, focused on her locker while her dad, Jeff Fox, looked on.

It was her first day at Greenacres, and she wasn’t worried about making friends or finding classes. She was worried she wouldn’t be able to work the combination lock.

“That’s, like, my worst fear right now,” Kaleigh said, followed by a nervous giggle. She struggled with the numbers, and when she finally popped open the door, her dad, and 7-year-old sister, Payten, erupted in applause.

Kaleigh looked slightly embarrassed; after all, she is a sixth-grader now.

“She told me I could only come in here once,” Jeff Fox said. “So I better enjoy it.”

Thursday marked the official end of summer for many families, as students in the Central Valley School District returned to classes. They are the last of the area students to go back. West Valley students returned Wednesday, and Spokane Public Schools went back Tuesday. East Valley students have been in classes for two weeks.

For students and staff at Greenacres Middle School, the start of the year was a little more exciting than usual.

The school has more than 5,900 square feet of new construction, including a new cafeteria, stage and student commons area. The teachers got new furniture in their classrooms, and the bus and parent drop-off areas were separated to alleviate congestion.

Out front of the building, students gathered around an imprint of a paw print stamped in the concrete, a symbol of their mascot, the Bruins. Construction crews used aquarium rock in the mud to match the school’s colors of green and blue.

“Were excited,” said Principal Vern Digiovanni. “We’re ready to go.”

There was some concern that the school wouldn’t be ready for students by the start of the year. Parents were calling in. Administrators were voicing concern.

“Three weeks ago it was looking pretty haggard,” Digiovanni said. “But they worked hard … I said all along we’d be in. And we’re in.”

The school was granted occupancy on Tuesday, Digiovanni said.

Crews could still be found Thursday, working on the landscaping, installing face plates and polishing the flag pole.

The layout of the school is about the same, but some classrooms were shifted around. The school’s band and music rooms were moved to the old cafeteria area, and more classrooms were added in the center of the building.

“Even the sixth-graders won’t feel lost, because everybody is lost today,” Digiovanni said.

Armed with maps, the students wandered the halls, looking for new teachers, new classrooms, and old friends.

Eighth-grader Brad Whitley was eagerly awaiting the arrival of his friends by school bus. He was giving high-fives to teachers in the hall, and helping sixth-graders find their way.

“I’m just going to soak up the new school, and try to get the most out of it my last year here,” said Whitley, the student-body president. “It’s great.”

The only glitch appeared to be with the new lockers. But that seemed to be a rite of passage for students new to the school.

In one of the sixth-grade hallways, Digiovanni stood with his hand-held radio calling for back up. A backpack extraction was needed at locker number 42.

Another sixth-grader’s backpack strap had been shut inside another locker, and the student couldn’t get it free, panic washing over his face.

“I’m opening a lot of lockers,” Digiovanni said. “For a sixth-grader, it’s the end of the world.”