Buses roll Monday

MAT-SU — From Trapper Creek to Palmer, Wasilla to Sutton, tomorrow marks a day most parents look forward to all summer, and the majority of children dread.

Another school year has arrived.

School begins for first through 12th grades in the Mat-Su Borough School District tomorrow, but before throngs of bleary-eyed students can begin filling classrooms some final preparation had to be completed.

While most schools in the district will look the same to students returning for another year, others will sport some changes. District spokeswoman Catherine Esary said teachers have been preparing their classrooms and getting materials in order ahead of Monday.

“Most of them have been in the school all [this past] week,” Esary said.

At the district’s administration building in Palmer, Esary said directors from various departments met with Superintendent George Troxel Friday to review enrollment numbers.

It’s all in preparation for students in one of the state’s largest school districts to transition back into academics as smoothly as possible.

The schools up north

At the northern part of the district, activities were buzzing at Talkeetna Elementary School Friday afternoon.

The school was hosting its second annual Educational Community Picnic at the Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge to bring parents, students and staff together. Also at that picnic was the school’s new principal Jodi Picou.

Picou, who has spent the past 13 years as an educator in various Alaska Bush towns, said she’s happy to be back on the road system while maintaining a small-town work environment.

Picou’s husband, Rob, a former principal of Burchell High School, will also work at Talkeetna Elementary School as a principal.

“We enjoy the school being the heart of the community,” Jodi Picou said. “Everybody knows each other.”

Talkeetna Elementary also has a new teacher — but familiar presence — in resident Becky Schwartz, who will teach first and second grades after working as a substitute in the building for years.

At Willow Elementary School, new principal Sheela Grennan-Hull will welcome back students on the heels of last year’s costly vandalism at the school.

Since nearly $130,000 worth of damage was done by two teen boys during a late-night rampage this past April, the school has made a complete turn-around through various clean-up efforts.

Getting there and back

Some eighth-graders and freshmen students got to ride the bus early Friday in preparation for the first day of school.

Director of Operations and Pupil Transportation Henry Cottle said the table is set for student transportation this year, and there are no major changes for parents to worry about. Nearly 8,000 students in the district are bused to classes daily.

The district’s buses are run by First Student, a pupil transportation company based in Cincinnati.

But buses go much farther than the core area. From north to Talkeetna and Trapper Creek, and all the way to Glacier View at the far eastern end of the Borough, buses run to almost every corner of the Mat-Su.

For Glacier View, two buses pick up students, with one going to Lake Louise and the other taking on students at King Mountain, said Chris Remick, the district’s routing specialist.

On Friday, Cottle said the only roadblock for transportation this school year will be construction on Fairview Loop that will reroute one bus.

Parents who have questions about busing should call the district’s transportation department at 373-2287, Cottle said.

All students have to do now is be ready for the bus to pick them up the first day of school. Because drivers have been practicing their routes, Cottle said the first few days should go smoothly.

“We anticipate no problems,” Cottle said. “The buses are in good working order.”

Contact Michael Rovito at michael.rovito@frontiersman.com or 352-2252.