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The outdoor weather was still warm with summer, but Clark County Public Schools had a different vibe on Tuesday.

Students and teachers enjoyed their first day in classes to mark the beginning of the 2023-24 school year.

“You get excited; you’re excited to get the kids back in the building. You get to see the ones returning, and then you get to see the new students. [You] meet the new families and see the [returning] families”, said Josh Mounts, principal at Baker Intermediate School. “It’s just a special time in the calendar year.”

While teachers might not have had students to occupy themselves with since the Class of 2023 graduated, their dedication to perform at a high level and improve instructional quality was never far from their minds beforehand.

“[Monday’s] the day we go over all the plans and procedures [and] expectations for our staff and students that our staff has been trained [on] this summer,” said Lindsey Campbell, assistant principal at Shearer Elementary School.

Much of what various faculty studied over the summer centered around cooperative learning structures and techniques, as emphasized by Spencer Kagan.

At Shearer, setting expectations was already underway.

A new first-grade teacher, Emily McDaniel, could be seen instructing students on expectations for understanding when to quiet the classroom.

In the cafeteria, students were instructed to follow protocol to receive their lunch promptly, and cafeteria workers ensured that their choices reflected different food groups.

Jason Kincaid, second-year principal at Robert D. Campbell Junior High School, explained some goals for the opening day as both teachers and students look to settle in.

“We’ve got three major things that we want to do the first day of school: get students here as quickly and safely as possible, get them fed, and get them home as efficiently as possible,” Kincaid said. “We want to get in and get routines started…This is the first time [students] have had a lot of [choices] in schedules. Getting schedules and making sure everyone has all their core classes and their electives and getting in the right spot [is] a huge deal…especially for the seventh graders coming into a new school.”

While the curriculum remains the same, there are always changes yearly.

At Campbell, a school of just over 800 students, the number of periods dropped from eight to six.

“We tried to offer more enrichment-type classes [last year], but it made our numbers really heavy,” Kincaid added. “We actually went back to a six-period day, and teachers wanted that because it gives us [approximately] an hour for classes. We think that for educational reasons, that’s the best.”

Bellamy Miller, a seventh-grade English/language arts Teacher, looks forward to teaching units that include informational, argumentative, and narrative writing.

“Building relationships is my most favorite part,” Miller said. “I think that [students] are really funny, and they care a lot about the people around them, and it’s really cool to get to know each individual one.”

At the auditorium of George Rogers Clark High School, faculty was busy engaging each class of students in what to expect for the coming year.

“We went through a lot of the information that’s in the student handbook. We went through dress codes with students. We went through our entertainment devices policy,” said first-year principal Luke Toy, noting that the latter includes rules regarding cell phone usage, tablets, air pods, and more. “It is very hard for us to hold people accountable for anything if they don’t know what the expectation first is.”

In his first year as athletic director at George Rogers Clark High School after a long career at Mercer County High School, Terry Yeast talked about adjustments.

“I had to realize that I came from a school that had 700 students to a school that has almost 1800,” Yeast said. “This is an awesome place with awesome people.”

Kris Olson, who directs the Cardinal Singers and men’s chorus and teaches various music courses, could be found in the morning instructing one of his guitar classes.

While establishing rules – such as not leaving instruments on the ground, carrying them with two hands, and walking rather than running with the guitar – he also engaged students in an exercise that allows them to meet others who they’d be sharing class time with.

Olson was asked what he looked forward to the most as the year began.

“Making music,” he said. “I love my summers, but getting back to an environment that is stimulating, making music, whether it’s singing in a choir, playing guitar, or working with other instrumentalists. I look forward to the opportunities to make music with young people.”

Olson was far from alone in his assessment.

“Teachers have to be willing to learn new things [and] implement new practices, and we feel very blessed here,” Campbell added. “[We] look forward to a wonderful year!”