First day of school a success for Stanly County Schools

Published 4:36 pm Monday, August 26, 2019

The first day of school for Stanly County students was a success, according to Superintendent Dr. Jeff James.

“It has gone remarkably well considering the staggered bell change,” James said.

Of the 48 dual-route buses on the road, 40 of them were on time or ahead of schedule, James said. The other eight ran anywhere from a few minutes to 10 minutes late.

“We will continue to review and adjust until 100 percent of the buses are on time,” James said.

He said the transportation department “hit a home run” making “this stressful start uneventful.”

James visited all of the schools and handed out pencils at each of the elementary schools. He was joined at Albemarle High School by the City Council, police chief and local business leaders.

Albemarle Mayor Ronnie Michael joined James at Albemarle Middle and Central Elementary schools.

“I have never seen this kind of community support anywhere else on the first day,” James said. “I commend our leaders and community for helping make students return a great event.”

He compared the first day of school to a sport team’s opening game.

“You want to come away feeling like you have done your best,” he said. “I would say, from our staff debrief, that central office, staffs and community came together to make this a great day for our students.”

About Chris Miller

Chris Miller has been with the SNAP since January 2019. He is a graduate of NC State and received his Master's in Journalism from the University of Maryland. He previously wrote for the Capital News Service in Annapolis, where many of his stories on immigration and culture were published in national papers via the AP wire.

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