First-Day-of-School Blues : Education: For many parents, it’s a big moment. A lot of kids just say, ‘See you later,’ and Mom weeps.

Ryan Bardet, 6, was tickled Tuesday morning to awaken at dawn for the start of his first-grade year at Loma Vista Elementary School in Ventura.

In fact, his mother, Linda, tickled his ribs to rouse him from his bed--not that Ryan wasn’t eager to get going with his career as a student.

“I’m happy to be here,” said Ryan, grinning as he sat in a circle of students on the floor of teacher Jo Nash’s room during a get-acquainted break.

Tuesday was the first day of school for Ryan and about 20,000 other Ventura County children, from relatively large school districts in Ventura and Ojai to smaller districts in Somis, Santa Paula and Oxnard.

Many other students on traditional September-to-June schedules will start school today, and all of the county’s students will be back in class by next week. Students on year-round schedules in three districts have been in class since the beginning of August.

At Loma Vista, breathless students were dropped off by the busload and carload beginning at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday. Children and parents alike talked about the first-day-of-school jitters and their high hopes for the new school year.

“We were rushing around this morning to get here on time,” said first-grade student Solange Webster, 6, who attended kindergarten at Loma Vista last year. “But I felt real good because I like school. I like it here.”

Not everyone was thrilled, however. There were a few tears among kindergarten students as they said goodby to their parents for the half-day kindergarten session.

Steven Tracy, 6, said getting up early to go to class had made him a bit grumpy.

“I’m not in a good mood,” said Steven, frowning.

Some parents grew sentimental at seeing their children in school.

“I’ll boo-hoo a little,” said Teresa Resto, looking back toward the classroom where she had just dropped off her youngest child, Bre Annen, 6, who was starting first grade. Resto, who has another daughter in the fifth grade, said she was preparing to re-enter the job market after seven years at home caring for her children.

“I’m feeling the empty-nest syndrome,” Resto said. “I feel a little more emotional than when she was in kindergarten. She’s going to be here the whole day.”

But Resto said Bre Annen appeared to be doing just fine in teacher Linda Crane’s classroom.

Principal Diane Peterson, who is beginning her first year as principal at Loma Vista, said that, for many parents, starting school is “a big apron-string-cutting moment. . . . They’re giving their babies up. A lot of kids just say, ‘See you later, Mom,’ and Mom’s just standing there weeping.”

Rather than bidding their children goodby at the classroom door, many parents of kindergarten and first-grade students went with them to observe the class and help ease the transition.

Peterson said that parents are encouraged to be in the classroom and that some parents spend time at the school.

At Loma Vista, the day came off with few hitches.

A few parents of first-grade students expressed concern that their children were placed in classes with kindergarten students.

But Peterson said school officials sometimes resort to mixed-age grouping when there are not enough students in one grade to fill a class.

This year, for example, there were not enough first-grade students to fill two full 30-student classes, so some kindergarten students were placed with the older students in a first-grade class, Peterson said. A state Department of Education report advocates such multi-age classes as beneficial to older and younger students, she said.

Elsewhere in the Ventura district, some administrators are facing a new challenge this year. Because of budget cuts, two principals will be doing double duty, each splitting their time between two schools.

Jeffrey Nelson will be principal at Pierpont and Lincoln elementary schools, while Richard Kirby will be principal at Oak View and Arnaz elementary schools.

Loma Vista officials said they are looking forward to working with a new $400,000 computer system that is being installed at the school under a grant from IBM. Loma Vista is one of six schools in the county to receive the computers.

“It’s going to be a real positive year,” said PTA President Loren Miller, echoing the optimism that abounded on the campus Tuesday. “There are a lot of possibilities ahead of us.”