August 15, 2017
The first day of school is always filled with an incredible energy that is bundled up with nervousness, excitement and anticipation. It is that energy that has kept me up tossing and turning before the first day of school for the last eighteen years. This year was of course no different and there were a few more nerves rolled up as I thought about what this day would look like. It was everything I expected and more. I saw kids excited to greet friends after a summer break, chatting with teachers, staring at their lockers willing it to open, asking for directions, organizing their school supplies, talking with each other in the hallway and just filling the hallways of Hixson with kid noise. It's a beautiful sound and one that is missed during the summer months.
The morning was filled with happy parents dropping off kids, snapping pictures and saying bye to the chaos of afternoon pickup. Thank you, parents for your patience. We launched a new afternoon pick up procedure to alleviate the backup of traffic onto Elm and under 44. In theory, a great idea. Today, SRO Cameron and I learned A LOT of lessons and got to see what needs to be done to improve the pickup process. Please bear with us as we walk through the improved version tomorrow afternoon. We will be out there at 2:45pm to start setting up the lot to have two moving pick up lanes with the center lane cleared to move cars up the rows once kids are with their ride. This should alleviate what we witnessed today. Please follow the same procedure you did today and just look for us as we guide all the cars.
Also, thank you 8th grade parents for your patience with us and the proof of immunization process. I apologize for the stress and frustration experienced this morning. I can assure you that things are in place to make it different for next year.
Overall, with the highs and bumps of today, it was a great day! Thank you for all your support as we launch into the school year. It's going to be an awesome one!
With Gratitude,
Grace