Thousands head back to school for first day of classes

With five children in tow, Kevin and Amanda George were among the first families to arrive at Diamond Hill Elementary Monday morning.

“We live right here on the hill,’’ Kevin George said, just minutes after 7:20 a.m. “They were ready to put on new shoes and new clothes and meet their teachers.’

The Georges’ children are ages 10, 8, 7, 5 and 4.

Early Monday, thousands of students in Fort Worth and many other Texas public school districts reported for the first day of classes.

At Diamond Hill Elementary, a new four-classroom addition awaited dozens of pre-kindergarten youngsters, such as 4-year-old Mariana George.

Mariana may not have appreciated who greeted her at the school, but as she walked into the building, she got high-fives from some pretty distinguished grownups: Pat Linares, the interim superintendent; school board President Jacinto Ramos; Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price; and the man who is expected to be Fort Worth’s next permanent superintendent, Kent Paredes Scribner.

Scribner’s hiring is expected to become official Sept. 1.

Texas’ estimated 5.2 million public school students start classes this week. Most area schools started classes on Monday, including Fort Worth, Arlington, Birdville, Carroll, Eagle Mountain-Saginaw, Hurst-Euless-Bedford, Keller and Mansfield. Northwest and White Settlement schools start classes Tuesday.

“It was a smooth start to another great school year,” said Mark Thomas, spokesman for Birdville schools.

A digital day

Area school districts documented the first day on social media. For example, Scribner’s tour of several Fort Worth campuses unfolded via Twitter, Vine and Instagram.

Parents were encouraged to send photos to their school districts or post them on social media using hashtags such as #FirstDayEveryDay or #FirstDay. At Arlington schools, the day’s events were chronicled in a “tweet-a-long.” Parents were urged to follow Superintendent Marcelo Cavazos as he visited students and teachers.

At Eagle Mountain-Saginaw schools, the hashtag #emsproud, exemplified how the district is taking the digital age to a new level of learning, said Deputy Superintendent Linda Parker. The district has an estimated 19,000 students. This year, students in middle and high school are encouraged to BYOD, or “Bring Your Own Device,” a program that allows students to use their personal tablets, laptops, e-readers, iPod touches or smart phones for learning.

Parker said teachers can engage students in real time by asking questions and getting answers or responses via a digital device.

“We are embracing the fact that we live in a society that is connected to technology,” said Parker, who chronicled the first day on Twitter as she visited different campuses. She said schools are open to social media because they want to be transparent and connected to the school community.

“We are proud of the work in public education and we want to share it with the world,” Parker said.

Welcome back, Diamond Hill

As students continued to stream into the Diamond Hill building, Emily Alvarez, a 9-year-old bilingual student, was already seated at her desk in the classroom of teacher Jose Carranza.

“I like school because I like being with friends,” the fourth-grader said.

Carranza teaches math and science to fourth-graders in the district’s bilingual program. Carranza expects his second year of teaching to go more smoothly.

“It was definitely a rough start” last year,’’ he said. “Not knowing everything and how it worked. But definitely things improved as the year went on. This year, I’ve felt a lot more confident.”

This year, he expects to use more visuals and anchor charts to help students grasp concepts, he said. He is expected to teach three rotations of a total of 62 students, he said.

“It’s the best feeling” to be a teacher, Carranza said. “I remember when we taught them long division and I remember when they started catching on, and I thought, ‘They learned that from me!’”

About 540 students enrolled at Diamond Hill Elementary on the first day of classes, a district spokesman said.

This story was originally published August 24, 2015 at 7:47 PM with the headline "Thousands head back to school for first day of classes."