Students on the first day of Haines schools, which opened Tuesday for the school year.
On Tuesday morning at 8 a.m., Haines students poured out of yellow school buses and made their way into the Haines School building for the first day of class.
At the door, they were greeted by new assistant principal Jens Jacobsen and new wrestling coach Jason Polcyn, who sported a Scottish kilt for the occasion.
Many of the younger students were accompanied by their families, while others shuffled their way to the cafeteria for breakfast before the first bell, excitedly catching up with friends. Some students had clear priorities and went straight to the playground, clocking in playtime before a day of sitting in classrooms and getting reintroduced to the concept of homework.
“I think kids are really pumped about being here,” said Jacobsen, looking over groups of students huddled in the cafeteria. “Obviously they want to see their friends again and their old teachers.”
He said the energy of the students during the morning was overwhelmingly positive.
Superintendent Roy Getchell was walking the halls on the first day, making sure everything was running smoothly.
“The first day of school is like Christmas. You just never know what it’s gonna be, but there’s hope and there’s anticipation. I’m super excited for the year to start. We’ve got amazing new staff, and I had a chance to meet a lot of the new families. It’s just a new beginning,” he said.
With the pandemic and high rates of turnover among teachers, the Haines School has faced its share of challenges in the past few years. This year, there were concerns that the school might be short on funding after Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy vetoed a chunk of the education budget approved by the legislature, a move which halved expected state funds.
But Getchell said the school weathered the cuts better than most districts, thanks to strong savings and a boost from the borough.
Students had a mix of emotions about returning to the classroom.
“I’m feeling excited because we get new students and a new teacher,” said Brinley Ganey, who is starting fifth grade. Her friend Sylvie Lynch, who is also starting fifth grade, said she was “feeling kind of nervous.” The new fifth-grade teacher is Jessica Molyneux, who recently moved from Pelican to Haines.
Colby Larson, who just moved from Juneau was also starting his first day of fifth grade. He said he was excited about starting school in Haines for the first time. “I just want to meet new friends,” he said.
Still, some students were not ready to let go of summer. When asked how he felt about the first day of school, Hunter Dunbar’s response was “not great.”
“I’m not ready yet. I don’t want to do homework,” he said. But he was excited about having a new teacher from Spain, Rosana Prio, leading his third-grade class.
At the end of the day, newly- arrived social studies teacher Jeff Anderson said he still felt good.
“It’s a lot less names to learn than my last school where I had over 200 students every day,” he said. “We’ve had a few days of just teachers preparing, which has been all good and important work, but once you get the energy of the kids in the building, that’s when the school comes to life.”
Molyneux said she was happy her fifth-grade class had no meltdowns or tears.
Alex Van Wyhe, who has been teaching high school English for eight years, said it was nice to see everyone again. “The big thing that feels different this year is we have so many new teachers. So it’s great to see them all hit the ground running and see the kids excited about new teachers,” he said.
Finn McMahan, who started his first day of seventh grade, said he’s excited for a little bit more work this year. This year he has seven classes including social studies, P.E, science, health, language arts, math and woodshop. The highlight of the day was playing soccer in P.E., he said.
Superintendent Roy Getchell was walking the halls on the first day, making sure everything was running smoothly.
“The first day of school is like Christmas. You just never know what it’s gonna be, but there’s hope and there’s anticipation. I’m super excited for the year to start, we’ve got amazing new staff, and I had a chance to meet a lot of the new families. It’s just a new beginning,” he said.
With the pandemic and high rates of turnover amongst teachers, the Haines school has faced its share of challenges in the past few years. This year, there were concerns that the school might not have enough funding after Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy vetoed a chunk of the education budget approved by the legislature, which halved expected state funds. But Getchell said the school weathered the cuts better than most districts, thanks to strong savings and a boost from the borough.
Students had a mix of emotions about returning to the classroom.
“I’m feeling excited because we get new students and a new teacher,” said Brinley Gamey, who is starting fifth grade. Her friend Sylvie Lynch, who is also starting fifth grade, said she was “feeling kind of nervous.” The new fifth grade teacher is Jessica Molyneux, who recently moved from Pelican, Alaska to Haines.
Colby Larson, who just moved from Juneau is also starting his first day of fifth grade. He said he was excited about starting school in Haines for the first time. “I just want to meet new friends,” he said.
Still, some students were not ready to let go of summer. When asked how he felt about the first day of school, Hunter Dunbar’s response was “not great”.
“I’m not ready yet, I don’t want to do homework,” he said. But he was excited about having a new teacher from Spain, Rosana Prio, who is teaching third grade.
At the end of the day, newly-arrived social studies teacher Jeff Anderson said he still felt good.
“It’s a lot less names to learn than my last school where I had over 200 students every day,” he said. “We’ve had a few days of just teachers preparing, which has been all good and important work, but once you get the energy of the kids in the building, that’s when the school comes to life.”
Molyneux said she was happy her fifth grade class had no meltdowns or tears. Alex Van Wyhe, who has been teaching high school English for eight years, said it was nice to see everyone again. “The big thing that feels different this year is we have so many new teachers. So it’s great to see them all hit the ground running and see the kids excited about new teachers,” he said.
Finn McMahan, who started his first day of seventh grade, said he’s excited for a little bit more work this year. This year he has seven classes including social studies, P.E, science, health, language arts, math and woodshop. The highlight of the day was playing soccer in P.E.