The sounds of children yelling and clanging on jungle gyms could be heard Tuesday morning at Quigley Elementary.
It was a busy day as teachers marched students into classrooms that have been unoccupied for the past two months.
The start of the school year will revolve around current events and spreading kindness, said district superintendent Kevin Kaardal.
“We started with a focus on kindness, considering all the issues that are out there world-wide, with nuclear war, hate rallies, those kinds of things, to natural disasters, which we have our own share of,” he said.
Mandy Mitchell dropped off her child, a Grade 1 student, at the school Tuesday morning. They walk to school as they live in the area.
Mitchell said her daughter did well last year and she wasn’t worried about anything.
“It was nice having the summer break because we didn’t have to get up every morning to go to school. But then returning to school is also good,” said Mitchell.
Her favourite part of the school year is the Christmas concerts.
Traffic enforcement officials were at Quigley, Sept. 5, reminding drivers school zones are now in effect.
“School zone signs remind us that we are close to a school and higher numbers of children should be expected in the area,” said Dave Gibson, the school district’s regional traffic safety officer. “They can be stepping off buses, crossing streets, or riding their bikes for the first time, so it’s important that we all watch out for their safety.”
Speeding in a school zone carries a minimum fine of $196 and three penalty points.
Around 59 new student learning spaces have been created district wide in order to meet the Supreme Court ruling to restore the 2002 collective language agreement, which requires schools to have set classroom sizes, said Central Okanagan Public Schools trustee Lee Mossman.
New infrastructure has been added to the building along with new sidewalks, so it was chosen as one of the locations for traffic enforcers, said Mossman.
“There’s a lot more new people, a lot of new faces, so people may be unfamiliar with the area. Awareness and enforcement of school zones in this area and the neighbourhood is probably a pretty good idea,” he said.
Quigley Elementary was lucky with the reinstated language agreement, said Mossman, as it had a little breathing room.
“The kids seem full of energy and excited about getting the school (year) on,” he said.
