New school year starts amid tears and excitement

Sleep didn’t come easy Monday night as he thought about the first day of school. He wanted to make a good impression, and thought about how to introduce himself.

“We all get keyed up the first day,” said Michael Uphus, the new head of Seltice Elementary, who has worked in schools for 30 years. “The principal is no different than anyone else.”

Tuesday saw tears, excitement, confusion and indifference as educators and the under-19 population refilled classrooms in North Idaho public schools.

At Seltice, Aimee Mullikin was having a hard time as she dropped off her first-grader, Zoie. “She’s grown up so fast,” Mullikin said as she watched her daughter unpack her pink bag and show a classmate her pink socks. “I don’t want to let go yet.”

Fellow mom Jennifer Barretto nodded her head in understanding. She said she got choked up when she entered the classroom with her daughter, Arianna. In kindergarten, Barretto said, parents could hang around the room and help out. In first grade, when the bell rings, you have to leave.

A few miles away at Post Falls Middle School, sixth-graders had to deal with another kind of change: using lockers.

Brian Carlson’s class turned knobs counterclockwise and clockwise for about 20 minutes until they got the hang of it.

“I never was good at lockers,” one girl said as she waited for her teacher’s help.

Carlson went from group to group, coaching students through the exercise: Clear it. What’s your first number? Which way do you go? You got it! Give me a high-five for that.

The first locker experience is stressful, Carlson said later, and some kids were close to tears trying to figure it out. By the end of the day, most had the process down, he added. “We’ll see if they remember it tomorrow.”

Years past her first locker experience, high school senior Alice Downey will start applying to colleges in the next few months.

“Big decisions coming up,” Alice said as she ate a burrito in a crowded lunchroom at Lake City High School. She’s thinking of studying education or nursing.

She’s excited about being a senior, but some of her classmates are already suffering from senioritis. Her government class discussed Hurricane Katrina and helped give perspective on the start of an academic year.

“People are kind of disappointed to go back to school,” Alice said. “But at least we have a school.”