With just a weekend to go before the start of the school year, families arrived in force Thursday for their annual preview of the start of school and to meet the teacher.
At Brookhaven Elementary School, Principal Becky Whitelow could see before the doors opened the growth her school will experience taking on a portion of the population from the closed Peebles Elementary School.
She expressed excitement to blend the two schools together and to assimilate new families into Brookhaven.
“This year it’s so fun seeing so many families come in. We have a lot of (former) Peebles staff here. Teachers are super excited. They have been decorating and getting ready for two weeks. We’re very excited,” said Whitelow.
“I think we’re ready. The first day of school is always fun. We say goodbye to our kids in May and work through (the summer) and when the kids come in it’s like our purpose just came back into the building.”
At Brookhaven, family members began in the cafeteria where they could finish paperwork and learn about services the school provides as they learned the identity of their child’s teacher.
From there, they made their way to their classroom.
Kindergarten teacher Theresa Hatfield, a 14-year teacher said she feels like the new students because this is her first year at Brookhaven after teaching her whole career at Hay Branch Elementary School.
“It’s different. I’m very excited. Everyone is very cheerful. It’s like a family,” she said of her new staff.
“Everything is brand new. Every year is new because the strategies and the curriculum change and the kids change.”
All of KISD’s elementary schools hosted Meet the Teacher for two hours Thursday evening prior to the start of the school year, which is Monday for all grade levels.
Meet the Teacher photos are posted at www.killeenisd.org/photos
Back to School information is available at www.killeenisd.org/b2s