Spurka, Cambridge High Learn Lessons from First Day of School

A year and a half in the planning, and Dr. Edward Spurka said the first day of classes ever at "was the biggest payoff for me professionally."

Despite starting the day with special arrangements, such as members of the senior class entering the building first and a pep rally that took the place of starting the day in "homeroom," Cambridge High still operated normally as a school, he said.

Fulton Superintendent of Schools Robert Avossa was present for the pep rally. But the school still was able to deal with new students enrolling, and a number of students were in the media center getting locker issues fixed. Yet everything still worked smoothly with few or short lines.

"As a parent myself I'm not a big fan of standing in long lines," Spurka said.

Teachers came into the school with excitement, prepared for the students.

"From the carpool line to buses unloading ... I couldn't have had a better first day of school," he said.

The school opened with 1,081 students. It was built with a capacity of 1,980, and will get closer to that number in two years, the principal said.

He learned that it is necessary to build the level of excitement for opening the school as you train staff and put school processes in place. That transfers over to the students.

One of the big pleasant surprises he had on the second day of school was "the number of kids who went out of their way to say 'Good morning' to me," Spurka said.

He expects teachers will say good morning to students.

"But to reciprocate that, for kids to do that the second day, that means a lot," he said.

Parents have shared with him that their children had their best day of school ever on Monday.

Students, parents, do you agree? Is Cambridge High everything you thought it would be? Let us know in the comments below.

Even traffic was great, with no real backups.

"Buses were on time, we had a flawless car pool. Today one bus was late because of weather. But our parents were unbelievable," Spurka said.

There were no traffic issues, which he said is amazing as there are five schools within a mile of each other along Cogburn Road. (Cambridge High, , , and

For that he thanks the city of Milton for improving the intersection of Bethany Bend and Cogburn Road with turn lanes and having officers from its police department on hand. He also thanked for Fulton County Schools for installing turn lanes into the school.

"What's going to happen, parents are going to start a little later to bring kids to school. We'll probably have traffic issues next week," he said.

To prevent that, he'd like parents to drop off their kids at 7:30 a.m.-8 a.m. like they've been doing.

If you've been showing up at Cambridge High expecting to walk in and take a tour or wander the grounds or hallways of the school, think again. Now that the school is filled with 14 to 18 year olds, Spurka and his staff are making sure to tighten things up. All exterior doors will be secured.

"The number one priority is the safety of our students," he said.

He suggests making an appointment. If you have business at the school, you must check in with the administrative offices.

Spurka said he's looking for parents interested in serving on the Local School Advisory Committee (LSAC). Email Spurka at the school.

He wants to hear any questions or concerns about anything at Cambridge High, and he asks parents to email the appropriate teacher, counselor or administrative personnel.

It's not just parents and students he wants involved at Cambridge High. Local residents are asked to come to the softball game on Wednesday, the Cambridge Bears' football team's first scrimmage Thursday night.

"All of the events of our school, we need our parents to come out and support," Spurka said.