New school year begins all over Hampton Roads

New clothes. New teachers. New beginnings.

Tuesday, the first day of public school across South Hampton Roads, marked a return to familiar territory for some students. Others attended classes in freshly constructed buildings or went to class for the first time. 

As the day kicked off, teachers made last-minute preparations while children of all ages met the day with enthusiasm and trepidation.

Here are some impressions:

PORTSMOUTH

A stumbled start

Early Tuesday morning, Lakesha Cuffee and her 9-year-old daughter, Jernisha, joined the parents, guardians and children who packed the main office at the new Park View Elementary to complete registration forms and get room assignments.

With classroom number in hand, Jernisha, sporting a Hannah Montana backpack, and her mom and relatives made a trip upstairs. There, they discovered that Jernisha, a third-grader, had been assigned to a second-grade classroom.

They went back to the office. The school song began playing. The Pledge of Allegiance soon followed.

Principal Gwendolyn Watkins assured Jernisha's mom that everything would work out.

"We'll get that straight," Watkins said.

About 10 minutes later, Jernisha walked into the right room.

"She's a little late, but this is Jernisha," her mom told the teacher, Patsy Young.

Young smiled as the new student found her way.

"It'll be a wonderful year," Young said.

- Cheryl Ross

CHESAPEAKE

A new head honcho

Less than two hours before school was supposed to start at Hugo A. Owens Middle School, Principal Mike Perez stood over a sink, washing 20 pounds of apples.

He had dropped them off Monday night and arrived extra early Tuesday to clean the healthy treats. It's his first year as a principal - he was an assistant principal at Western Branch High School last year - and he wanted to make a good impression on his staff.

It's different being head honcho, he said. He gave his first PowerPoint presentation to teachers last week and said he'd stressed over it for a week beforehand.

He put the apples in baskets and set them in front of the mailboxes. Then, worried that teachers wouldn't realize the apples were for them, he printed a pair of signs wishing staffers a great first day and taped them on the baskets.

"That's not too cheesy, is it?" he asked.

- Alicia P.Q. Wittmeyer

NORFOLK

A day of solving problems

Charmayne Rush lost sleep Monday night over chairs.

She knew she had 22 in her classroom on the second floor of Booker T. Washington High School. But the first-year teacher expected 36 students in her first class Tuesday.

"You have to roll with the punches," Rush, 23, said before school began.

Being there at all was like living her dream. She abandoned her computer science major as a sophomore at Old Dominion University to pursue what she loves: sharing the English language with children.

Rush moved from Florida so recently that she hasn't unpacked pictures to go in the empty frames on her desk.

Before 7:30 a.m. Tuesday, she had solved the seating problem, along with confronting issues of unexpected visitors, students arriving early, a computer that didn't work right and a boy who appeared to be registered for her all-girls class.

"I'm nervous and happy at the same time," Rush said. "We'll see what happens tomorrow. That will be the real test."

- Amy Jeter

SUFFOLK

A time to snap some memories

Zayvien Ziglar arrived at the new Hillpoint Elementary School with his camera-toting father by his side. But Julian Ziglar wasn't the first to snap the 4-year-old's mug at school.

Lesa McNamara pulled Zayvien aside and asked him to pose for a photograph against the wall.

"Give me a big smile," said McNamara, a public information assistant for the school division.

Zayvien held up his red "Cars" backpack and displayed a toothy grin.

Next, the boy and his father weaved through a maze of hallways, stopping in front of his pre-kindergarten classroom.

"Wait a minute, Zayvien," Ziglar said. "Stand right here."

Children and teachers streamed by as Ziglar tried to get the perfect shot of his son, in black corduroy pants and a collared shirt. Then it was time to go inside.

Zayvien peered in but didn't move.

"Walk in, Zayvien," Ziglar said. "Walk in the classroom."

The boy took a few steps forward. He paused. After a few seconds, he made it through the door.

As Zayvien looked around the room and met his classmates, Ziglar's camera clicked.

- Hattie Brown Garrow

VIRGINIA BEACH

A welcome return

As the wheelchair lift lowered her to the asphalt bus loop, Kaliha Smith blinked in the sunlight. Kathy Alexander, a special-education assistant she has known for three years, was waiting.

"Hey, tootsie! How are ya?" Alexander said. Kaliha, who does not speak, turned her face toward Alexander.

At Pembroke Elementary, where Kaliha is in second grade, eight classrooms are for severely disabled students, the largest concentration among the city's 57 elementary schools. Kaliha was ready for the first day, with her brown eyes wide-open, a strawberry-shaped backpack on her chair and her hair in twists tipped with beads.

Teacher Beth Hess stroked the cheek of her returning student and told her how much she'd grown. Kaliha joined the morning circle around the carpet and crossed arms with classmate and friend Kirk Gilliam.

"She really enjoys school," Hess said. "I could see it when she came through that door. She had a big smile on her face."

- Lauren Roth