Sports blog: Warrior Nation
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By DANIELLE CAPALBO

Villager Staff Writer


WILTON -- Each of the 18 handwritten name tags had been carefully placed on a tiny desk. Eighteen tiny chairs were pushed in. Books formed neat rows in the classroom library and 18 birthdays were displayed on a bulletin board near the door.

Bryan Ennis was ready for the first day of school.

"Every year, I still get butterflies -- I don't sleep well the night before," said the first-grade teacher at Miller-Driscoll Elementary School. "You want to make a good first impression on the kids and set a positive tone for the rest of the year."

More than 4,000 students returned to Wilton Public Schools Monday, and the scene at Miller-Driscoll reflected goings-on throughout the district: the sort of kinks you'd expect on Day 1, but no major hitches.

"I believe that we had a very successful first day," he said, having visited every building throughout the day with several of his cabinet members, including Assistant Superintendent Arlene Gottesman. "We observed teachers at all levels engaged in orientation and in academic activities. The atmosphere in each building was calm and purposeful."

By 2 p.m., Ennis said things were going well -- especially considering the building was completely reorganized this summer, he said, having previously comprised two separately operating schools.

"The biggest issue was that the kids didn't know where the bathrooms were located in this area of the building," he said. "A lot of them have been asking, 'When are we going to go home,' too, since they were used to half-day kindergarten.

Richards noted that a few school buses ran late Monday morning.

"It generally takes a week or two to get everything running smoothly with the transportation system and our Transportation Coordinator Mary Channing works very hard to make this happen," he said.

Once the kids arrived at school -- whether they were 17-years-old or 7 -- it was a day for learning names and establishing routines, teachers said.

For the littlest learners, it was about easing into a completely new chapter of their lives. And getting on the right buses. At Miller-Driscoll, Principal Cheryl Jensen-Gerner said that took some extra time, but, most importantly, children took it in stride as some settled into a new grade and others settled into school for the first time, ever.

"From our perspective, we didn't see kids bothered, upset or unduly nervous. They know there's a teacher waiting for them," she said. "It's a successful first day when everybody gets where they need to go and we don't have an undue amount of tears."

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