Bullitt schools open; students face longer days

Parents and students started peering through Zoneton Middle School's front doors at about 7:15 a.m. Wednesday, nearly half an hour before they opened.

Teachers waited in the halls, ready to usher sixth-grade students into the gym and older students to their first period classes.

In desk-lined rooms, students pulled out schedules and agendas that teachers would spend the entire day discussing. They wanted to make sure every kid knew what changed, what didn't and what was to come.

Schools across Bullitt County reported no major issues Wednesday morning for the start of the 2014-2015 school year — despite a few district changes, including releasing students five minutes later each day, Bullitt County Public Schools spokesman John Roberts said.

Roberts and Zoneton principal Kathy House said teachers and administrators had a shorter summer to get the schools ready, because of an unexpected 15 snow days last year, but they felt prepared to take on the new year.

"It was just working smarter and being more efficient," House said. "Working together as a team to make sure we had everything done for the first day of school. We are ready for school to start."

Before students shuffled through the doors, the district's board of education made a few changes to their schedules. The five minutes tacked on daily make up for extra time students will be off during the year for teacher planning days, Roberts said.

The board installed seven full planning days on one Monday each month, along with three professional development days. Last year, there were seven days when students were released two hours early, and teachers spent the rest of those days planning.

One professional development day is listed as a possible make-up day, but the remaining eight make-up days are tacked on to the end of the year. Last day on the calendar is May 21, but if the schools need all nine days to make up for classes missed because of bad weather, the last day would be June 3.

Roberts said the district usually adds days to the end of the year in the event of bad weather, instead of during the year, because parents make plans for the scheduled days off.

Jefferson County Public Schools took a different route, scheduling four make-up days during the year and seven at the end. The district's schools start their year next Wednesday and end a week after Bullitt County schools.

Sixth-grader Kinsey Wallace, 11, said she switched from a Jefferson County school to Zoneton this year and is nervous about making friends. She sat alone in the school's gym waiting to follow a line of students to their classroom.

Cambria Wulf, 11, sat a few bleachers away with a group of girls. She said she was excited for the school year to start, but sad that summer was over.

"It's kind of scary," she said of moving up from elementary to middle school. "But when you get used to it, it feels lilke you're at a place you've always been at."

On the second floor, students from two eighth-grade classes tested a list of lock combinations on their newly assigned lockers.

"No," Mason Cooper, 14, said, banging his locker door. "All the combinations don't work."

His friends to his right struggled as well, but all eventually got them open.

Cooper said this year's going to be a good one, and he doesn't mind the first day of school — the teachers are actually happy.

"By the second week, they tell us to sit down and get mad and stuff," he said.

Reporter Bailey Loosemore can be reached at (502) 582-4646. Follow her on Twitter at @bloosemore.