No More Playing Around : First Day of School Gets Mixed Reviews From the Students, Teachers and Parents

J.Z. Weber seemed ready for his first day of kindergarten. He had a new lunch box and a confident attitude.

But when his mom drove up in front of C. Fred Schroeder Elementary School on Tuesday, J. Z.’s self-assurance melted like a Popsicle on a hot day. He kicked. He screamed. He clung to the dashboard. Lynne Weber, his mom, had to pry his fingers from her neck.

“I don’t know what happened,” she said later. “He was fine until we pulled up in front. He had his new lunch box. He thought it was really cool that he was going to be a big boy and go to big-boy school.”

Scenes like that one occurred all over Orange County as thousands of children came back to school, or, like J. Z., entered it for the first time. While students on a year-round schedule came back from a short break some weeks ago, most others begin their fall semester this week. A few don’t begin until next week.

Schroeder is a small school drawing about 400 students from a middle-class, ethnically mixed neighborhood. The first-day scene there was like many others around the county as kids swarmed the entrance with a mixture of excitement and reluctance.

“I’m excited and nervous,” said Kristen Acuna, 10, who was moments away from sixth grade. “I just wanna see all my friends.”

Kristen and sixth-grade chums Danica Terrell and Susan Phomprasack, both 11, said they were thrilled to be upperclassmen after six years of working their way up the grade-school pecking order. Some of the perks: flag-raising privileges, the biggest soccer field and wielding authority during school events.

“We’ve been waiting a long time for this,” Kristen said.

The faces of the parents reflected a range of emotions. Some were bittersweet as the baby of the family toddled off to Real School. Others were relieved that their houses would be quiet again after three months of juvenile chaos.

“Oh, I’m a little sad today,” said Kathy Terrell, 32, as she watched her daughter, Danica, trot off happily with friends in tow. “She’s my only child, and now that she’s back in school, I’ll be working and I won’t get to pick her up.”

Some yards away, family history was being captured for posterity. Anna Allan had the video camera running as her oldest, Stephanie, strode down the hallway toward kindergarten. Sporting a bright pink “Beauty and the Beast” book bag half as big as her body, the 5-year-old expressed her views about school as her 2-year-old sister listened admiringly.

“I like to go to school because I haven’t been there before,” Stephanie said. “I’ll get to play.”

Some students were slightly less enthusiastic.

“I would rather be at the beach,” said Amanda Baughman, 5, as her uncle, Brad Baughman, gently prodded her into kindergarten.

Thao Le, 5, was too shy to discuss his feelings about starting school, answering questions only with shrugs and smiles. His father, Ut Le, 39, said he was looking forward to having a little more time to himself before work now that Thao and his older sister are back in school.

“I’m also happy to see him go to school because it’s more community for him,” said Le. “He likes it.”

A few parents admittedly were gleeful to see their daytime workload diminish as they handed rowdy youngsters over to the school system. Merchelle Valencia, 28, said she felt “great” that her three children, 5, 7, and 10 years old, were all starting school this week. When asked why she was so happy, Valencia threw open her arms and said, with an isn’t-it-obvious air: “I have three boys!”

An hour after the first class bell rang, Lucea Shipler’s kindergartners were sitting in neat rows marked by masking tape on the rug, listening attentively to a story about a squirrel’s first day at school.

The sixth-graders in Rose Jansz’s class had previewed the year’s curriculum, including world geography, language arts (“We will be writing a lot ,” she told them), math and a little art history. They didn’t know it yet, but they would be getting homework that night.

The children and parents weren’t the only ones getting adjusted to the new school year.

Schroeder Principal Linda Baxter was already dealing with a full day of parent conferences and lunch-table seating assignments. She planned stops in each classroom to read students excerpts from Dr. Seuss’ book, “Oh, The Places You’ll Go!”

“I’m so excited,” said Baxter, 36, who is in her first year as a principal. “It’s like my first day of school too!”

Office manager Virginia Arras was blithely juggling phones and last-minute emergencies, turning away a “crushed” kindergartner whose dad had failed to provide the proper health and birth records, trying to locate a girl who boarded the bus for another school in the district, but never showed up.

“Today’s not as hectic as most first days,” she said with a smile.