Springfield first day of school: See how elementary celebrates with clap-in for students

“I’m super excited,” said Principal Deborah Howard. “All of our community partners are here, which makes it wonderful ... We’re looking forward to a great year.”

Caitlin Richards, mother to Andrew, Aiden, Jude and Liam, said she’s excited for her first, second, fourth and almost kindergarten students.

“I’m so excited for them. They love to learn and read,” she said.

Richards’ second-grader, Aiden, said he was excited for his first day.

“(I’m most excited for) recess,” he said while smiling. “(And excited to see my friends).”

Fourth-grader Levi Walden is most excited for gym class and playing outside.

“(We are) very excited,” said Crystal Shumaker, Levi’s mom. “It’s amazing to see how far he’s come. He’s been in school for about six years now. He did two years of preschool and now he’s going here. He loves it. I love the school. I love the teachers, the principal, I love everybody here. He’s an amazing kid.”

Howard said the elementary had a low staff turnover this year and “was able to find great replacements.” She added that about a third of the student population are English Language Learners (ELL) this year, with about six different languages in the building.

“We have two English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) teachers and they’ve been doing a phenomenal job. Our teachers have been through a training so they have new and fresh skills that they can better communicate and better teach our ELL, but it’s a practice that actually can apply for everybody. We’re being so inclusive this year,” she said. “I’m so excited. When you love what you do it doesn’t feel like work. That’s how I feel about it.”

The clap-in included many community partners, such as some of the Divine Nine organizations (Phi Beta Sigma, Alpha Phi Alpha, Delta Sigma Theta), former superintendent Dave Estrop, former mayor Dale Henry as one of the academic support aides, people from the district, church partners, staff and faculty, parents and families.