Hello, School, Goodbye Summer!

Lidia Sale's third grade son was new to the Oak Street School on Thursday, but he already was happy to be going to his class and see his new friends on the first day of school, she said after dropping him off at the school's crowded Henry Street entrance.

"He is happy, I am happy too," Sale said after leaving a throng of moms and dads who were chatting and catching up with news of their summer's activities. She said her son had already attended the school's meet-your-new-teacher and classmates' day, held on Tuesday at Oak Street.

School started today, Thursday, for 5,661 students officially enrolled in the Bernards Township School district, who will enter classrooms at Ridge High School, the William Annin Middle School, or one of the district's four elementary schools.

"I wish it could at least be sunny," said one Ridge High School student, standing in heavy rain before 7 a.m. and waiting for a bus that didn't arrive as scheduled.

With that thought in mind, a total of more than 3,000 students braved the crack of a very rainy dawn to head to Ridge High School and the William Annin Middle School for the first day of school on Thursday, as long delays held up drivers and buses heading to the high school.

Employees in the school office at Ridge High School said that students would not be marked late for the day, and homeroom had been pushed back as cars backed up on puddly roads. Some buses heading to the high school had not yet arrived as of almost 7:10 a.m. in The Hills section, even as the usually later buses for the William Annin Middle School showed up for those students.

When she saw the middle school buses, Priti Shah said she was among the parents of high schoolers in The Hills who decided to drive her student instead. She dropped off a carload of students at about 7:30 a.m., just before the school bell was due to ring at 7:35 p.m.

Traffic also was backed up for buses and vehicles heading to the William Annin Middle School, which starts just a few minutes after Ridge. Not far from that school, parents driving along Lyons Road could have a view of flooding at the rear of Harrison Brook Drive homes.

By the time elementary school students were arriving at their schools at about 8:30 to 9 a.m., at least the rain had cleared.

Still, buses were pulling into the parking lot at the Oak Street Elementary School after 9 a.m., when school officially had started.

Still, it was grade school, and most students still were smiling and saying they were happy to get back to school.

"Welcome back," was the greeting that Oak Street students received from a staff member as they climbed off buses. "It's so nice to see you again."

However, those students on foot or who were driven by car began arriving even before 8:30 a.m.

Justin Breivogel, entering kindergarten, paused just in time for his dad to snap a photo of him with his mother, Deborah. "He's excited, I'm nervous," she said. Justin also posed for a photo with his dad, as he smiled for the camera.

NOTE: The Basking Ridge Patch will add to this story, and will present a photo gallery of the first day of school later today. Please feel free to add your photos to this story, or our later story.

About 5,600 students started school on the first day last fall. Schools Superintendent Valerie Goger said this September's actual enrollment figures won't be finalized for a few days because not all parents who have moved out of town have actually withdrawn their children, and not all who have moved into town have registered their children. 

However, Goger said enrollment as of Wednesday morning, compared in parentheses to June's enrollment figures, were: Cedar Hill Elementary School, 592, (down 15 from June); Liberty Corner Elementary School, 563, (up 2); Mount Prospect Elementary School, 683, (down 36); Oak Street Elementary School, 633, (up 5); William Annin Middle School, 1402, (down 31); Ridge High School, 1788, (up 64).

As far as new staff this year, Goger said the high school has one new social studies position, one language arts postion, one math position, a new special education teacher and .4 positions in French, Latin, and dance. The middle school has one additional guidance counselor, she said.

She said there are two more teachers at Oak Street, one less at Cedar Hill and faculty staffing has not changed for this year at Mount Prospect or Liberty Corner schools.