There was some rain, but Londonderry school principals said students were all smiles Tuesday on the first day of school.
"We're very happy and the kids are happy," Matthew Thornton Elementary School Principal Carol Mack said at Tuesday's Londonderry School Board meeting. "We saw no tears. The only drops of water were from the rain."
Mack thanked students, faculty and bus drivers for working efficiently to load and unload buses despite the wet weather.
Londonderry High School Principal Jason Parent said things moved just as smoothly with the older students.
"The kids were happy and they made it to class on time – even the freshmen," Parent told the board. "It was nice to see. It really felt like a school day in May or June. It just carried over and there wasn't any angst or worried looks."
School Board member Steve Young commended the high school's student council for its role in Monday's freshman orientation.
"While we grown-ups think everybody is out on vacation, there are so many students who are still contributing to making the school experience the best it can be for their classmates," he said.
At Moose Hill School, the new YMCA after-school program is nearly full, kindergarten coordinator Bonnie Breithaupt said.
The YMCA of Greater Londonderry has existing programs in the district's other schools, but will offer both before- and after-school child care at Moose Hill School for the first time this year, she said.
Each of the four sessions is nearing its 15-student capacity, Breithaupt said.
"Considering that (the program) wasn't approved until the end of July and is up to critical mass already, it's been great," she told the board Tuesday.
Breithaupt said she sees the program as a benefit to parents and students alike.
"Daycare is expensive for parents and the YMCA offers something much more affordable," she said. "And the child is not going from home to daycare to school to daycare to home. They are moving rooms, but they are there the whole day with less transition."
For more information about YMCA child care programs, contact the Greater Londonderry office at (603) 437-9622.
