School is in

For Kendra Brown, it was a day of firsts: after all, it was first day of kindergarten. But it was another first that occupied her mind on Monday morning.

“I rode the bus for the first time,” she bragged. Did she enjoy her ride?

“It was bumbly,” she grinned.

Plains’ bells rang on Monday as the school year began for an enthusiastic crop of kids, Brown among them.

“We opened the doors and the kids just started pouring in,” said Plains Superintendent Richard Magera

Beside the new students come two new teachers: Gena Ferlan, the school’s new title one coordinator, and Nicole Kenfield, a new kindergarten teacher at Wildhorse Plains.

Magera said there were five or six applicants for each of the two positions, vacated by retirees.

“Teachers’ starting salaries are $10,000 more in Wyoming than in Plains,” Magera said.

Though the school won’t tally official enrollment totals until the first week of October, Magera said it appears enrollment is slightly down.

“But some kids don’t come in until after the fair,” he said.

The biggest change for some High School students will be the new math class. Juniors — who faired poorly as 10th graders on No Child Left Behind tests, scoring only 40 percent efficiency — will take a morning math class based around college preparation tests.

“Our concerns are double-edged,” Magera said. “Are we testing them on things they weren’t ready to have tested, or are they deficient? If they’re deficient, we need to fix that.”

The class will be based on the math portion of ACT tests, which Magera said examines similar material covered by the state’s test. The new class aims to find and fix any potential lapses in math skills. Students can test out at the beginning to avoid taking the class.

But other than the new class and the new teachers, Magera said little has changed between this year and last year.

“Not much changes except the faces,” he said.