School starts in Carson City

Between them, Kathy Adair and Jessica Daniels have about 50 years of experience in education. But Tuesday was truly a first day of school for both.

Adair took over as principal of Mark Twain Elementary School, with Daniels as her vice principal.

"I've been nervous, and I've been worried," Adair confessed. "But now I'm relieved. It's wonderful to have the kids back -- that's the whole thing."

And she made a good first impression on her students.

"She's very nice," said James Wernett, 6. "She said we were doing good, and she was just being very nice to us."

Adair came from Eagle Valley Middle School, where she was vice principal. Daniels spent the bulk of her career as a teacher at Carson Middle School.

She said she has not forsaken teaching to become an administrator.

"I can't give that up," she said. "We have a word of the week, and I go over it with all the kids so they learn it during the week."

This week's word is "flamboyant."

Jonathan Miller, 5, attended his first day of first grade at Mark Twain.

"I'm excited because it's a lot of fun," he said. "We get to write more stuff and learn more things. And we get to play more on the equipment."

Superintendent Mary Pierczynski said the first day of school went smoothly throughout the district, except for some traffic congestion around Seeliger and Bordewich-Bray elementary schools.

"Everything went very well," she said. "The students were really well behaved."

Seeliger began the year with nine new staff members.

"So far, they're a great bunch," said Principal Laurel Terry. "This staff is really supportive of new teachers, and they're doing wonderfully."

Students returned to Bordewich-Bray Elementary to find their school under construction, forcing changes in the way recesses, lunch breaks and traffic flow were conducted.

"Considering how much we had going on and how many changes had to be made, I thought it went very well," said Principal Sue Keema. "Of course, there are ways we're going to tighten it up for tomorrow."

Schools reported 8,554 students showed up for the first day throughout Carson City, 54 more students than the first day last year.

First-day enrollment

Elementary schools:

Bordewich-Bray: 629

Empire: 574

Fremont: 654

Fritsch: 611

Mark Twain: 648

Seeliger: 660

Gleason (prekindergarten) 42

Secondary schools:

Carson Middle School: 1,152

Eagle Valley Middle School: 907

Pioneer High School: 91

Carson High School: 2,586

Total: 8,554