TAMPA, Fla. — When the school bell rang Monday, Hillsborough County Schools welcomed thousands of students back to class for the first day of school.
The energy on the first day of school is often unmatched. Eight-year-old Arsalan Salehian could hardly contain his excitement when he shared how much he loved his first day at Kenneth E. Adum Pre K-8 Magnet School.
"It's a new school, and it's going to be number one, and it's going to have a mascot, and I can't believe I'm on the football and baseball team at the same time,” said Salehian, a third grader.
It was an extra special day for kids at the new Adum Pre K-8 in South Tampa, opening its doors to students for the first time.
"So far so good,” said parent Brooke Dulaney. “We dropped off, there were no tears from going to a new school, and I think everyone was really excited to be the first class at Adum."
Monday afternoon, Hillsborough County Schools Superintendent Van Ayres shared how things were going district-wide.
"Operationally, we've had a tremendous day,” said Ayres. “Our buses ran better today than they did any time last year. We do have 100 more bus drivers. We're still 118 short, but we noticed the difference already having those 100 additional drivers."
Ayres said 100 percent of his attention right now is on this first week of school.
“For us, really this is about the first five days to kind of see where students end up to see if we need to do any shifts to balance our classes out,” the Superintendent said.
Around Adum, a traffic backup was easy to notice as students were released from school, though parents said they hoped things would get smoother after day one.
"A little bit crowded because this is the first day, I don't blame it,” said parent Efatullah Ghayoori. “A little bit crowded, a little bit of chaos, but that’s fine. It’s the first day.”
“Just it's new for all the parents, but I think once everything's sorted out the first week, we'll be in a good way of navigating the new school and the traffic pattern,” said Dulaney.
Now, it's full steam ahead to channel that first-day energy into the rest of the school year.
"The whole key is to keep that momentum and energy going, and based on what I'm seeing in all our schools today, I don't think that's going to be a challenge,” said Ayres.
A South Tampa man turned to Susan Solves It after he said ADT told him he had to keep paying for a security system at his Hurricane Helene-damaged home, even though the system was so new that he never had a day of service.
