First day of school goes smoothly despite some changes

School is back in full swing and seems like everyone got where they needed to be pretty smoothly. Dr. David Pennington, Public Schools Superintendent said even the temporary transition of Woodland’s Elementary to the Washington facility went well.

“First of all, we really want to say thanks to the Ponca City Police Department because they were very present, very visible yesterday [Monday], and again today [Tuesday] helping keep parents in the right areas, making sure they dropped off in the designated areas, made sure they stayed out of the bus zones,” Pennington said. “Their presence was very helpful, also helped people to slow down.”

Pennington said opening Washington Elementary was like riding a bicycle. The school hasn’t been used in seven years, but before that it had been open for more than 50 years. He said you just have to get back on and continue moving forward.

Another new thing for the schools this year is a new student information system. Pennington said they normally gather enrollment numbers after the first day of school. However, with the new system they are a few days behind, but he can say enrollment is high in some aspects.

“We know that we have higher enrollment in some areas,” Pennington said. “ For example, we know that our kindergarten classrooms, first grade classrooms, second grade classrooms are very full. What we don’t really have a handle on yet is whether those classrooms are just full in certain areas or whether that’s district-wide.”

He also said it’s a little hard to get an accurate count at the high school before the first week of school. Regardless of the exact number of students, still remember to slow down in school zones. Pennington said he noticed a lot of students walking to school and asks drivers to watch out for them.