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Juneau students went back to school Thursday. The glacial outburst flood didn’t delay the first day of school like it did last year, but the summer brought new leaders to some schools and a new, highly anticipated structure.
Before the first day of school began at Sítʼ Eetí Shaanáx̱ – Glacier Valley Elementary, students and families checked class lists outside the building and took photos before heading inside. Third grader Nia Conway stepped out of the car and let her mom take a quick photo before turning to enter the school. She’s excited to see her friends, but said she’s nervous about math tests this year.
“At second grade we didn’t really do times, and I’m scared if it does times,” she said.
Her mom, Khadija Conway, said she’s glad to get back into a routine after a good summer. She said Nia is shy and hopes that her teacher won’t overlook her for that. Like many parents, she wants her daughter to have a good school year.
“I want to make sure that she’s being cared for while she’s not in my care, and I just hope her teacher loves her as much as I do,” she said.
Kelly Stewart is the school’s new principal. Her first teaching job in Juneau was at Sítʼ Eetí Shaanáx̱, so she said it feels like she’s coming home. But Stewart was most recently an assistant principal at Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé. So she said there are some adjustments that come with now working in an elementary school.
“I noticed this morning that it was really loud in the gym, and my first reaction was to go to see what the problem was,” she said. “In a high school where there might be some sort of an altercation or something for a loud noise to erupt when it was just our kids having the time of their life in gym.”
Stewart said her goal this year is to make sure she’s listening to her staff and adjusting along the way.
“I’m learning them, they’re also learning me, and just being able to provide the best that we all can with our students, and to always know all of our decisions are coming from students first,” she said.
Stewart isn’t the only new school leader in the district. Thunder Mountain Middle School, Harborview Elementary, Montessori Borealis and Yaaḵoosgé Daakahídi High School also have new principals.
A new playground at the Dzantik’i Heeni campus
Students at Juneau Community Charter School had a slightly different start to the day. Students, teachers and family members stood in the dirt field where students spent two school years of recess at. Every person held a flower that students consolidated into bouquets for each class. They closed out the ceremony with a school song written by students.
Then, students flooded a newly constructed playground. First grader Logan Law was ready to test things out.
“Everything looks pretty fun,” he said
The younger students at the Dzentik’i Heeni campus, which houses the charter school, Montessori Borealis and Yaaḵoosgé Daakahídi High School, have spent recess playing in a dirt field for the past two school years. Families rallied in support of a new playground, which opened the day before the start of school.
Charter school principal Corey Weiss said it’s great for students to have more options at recess now.
“They’d be sitting in the dirt, you know, playing, splashing in the water, digging in the mud,” he said. “And you know, kids are going to adapt to what’s available to them, and that’s what they did. But I think I think it’s a game changer because it just completely changes how recess will be done,”
As students return to their new routines, so do school buses and active school zones. In a press release, the Juneau Police Department reminded drivers to stop for buses and to follow lower speed limits around schools.
More students will soon begin the school year later this month. The first day for kindergarteners is Aug. 25. Preschool begins on Aug. 27.
