Superintendent Susan Andrews says Muscogee County schools had ‘smooth opening’

Monday was the first day of classes for the Muscogee County School District, and Superintendent Susan Andrews said it was a “smooth opening” despite some isolated issues at some schools.

The district has approximately 33,000 students in 64 schools and alternative centers.

Nobody enjoyed the first day more than Susan Willard.

Willard is the dean of Early College Academy, and this is the first year the school has its own building and is not sharing space at Kendrick High School.

Early College is now located in the Waverly Terrace School building, which last year was home to the now closed Teenage Parenting Center.

“It was fabulous, fantastic,” Willard said. “We had about 10 former students come by and say how jealous they are.”

She said the current students enjoyed eating lunch later than 10:30 a.m.

The only hitch, she said, was some trouble with a bus but it did not affect classes.

Frank Brown, assistant director of transportation Frank Brown, said only a couple of the district’s buses had any mechanical difficulty. Despite heavy traffic in some locations, the buses ran on time.

Andrews said the telephone system at Double Churches Middle School wasn’t working in the morning, which she attributed to a weekend storm.

Even a lack of air conditioning in the cafeteria couldn’t dampen spirits at Reese Road Elementary.

“We don’t have any students this year,” Principal Jeanella Pendleton said. “All of our children are being referred to as scholars and leaders because that is the mind-set we want to establish here. We are a leadership academy.”

Pendleton said it was a “good opening” and that the children seemed happy to be back in school.

“The teachers are even happier than the students,” Pendleton said. “They’ve worked hard preparing for this.”

She said much of the day was spent “practicing procedures” that students will use.

“We’ve got students from Kuwait, from India,” she said. “We’re very diverse.”

Several civic leaders met school buses as they arrived Monday as part of a program called “Be There: Meet a Bus and Support Students,” designed to encourage parent and family involvement in education.

For example, U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop Jr., D-Albany, greeted students at Carver High School, Columbus Mayor Teresa Tomlinson met students at J.D. Davis Elementary, and Andrews met students at Kendrick High. “We reminded students to pay attention to their student handbooks and emphasized not to be a bully,” Andrews said.

This story was originally published August 9, 2011 at 12:08 AM with the headline "Superintendent Susan Andrews says Muscogee County schools had ‘smooth opening’."