EDUCATION
APS students head back to school for new year
Around 60,000 students in school district returned to class Friday
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For roughly 60,000 students at Albuquerque Public Schools, summer is over, which means it鈥檚 time to lace up their new sneakers, hop on the yellow bus and head back to school.
On Friday, just before 8 a.m., around 320 students in kindergarten through fifth grade started class at Dolores Gonzales Elementary School in Barelas, right across the street from the zoo and blocks away from the Rio Grande.
To quell first-day nerves, teachers at Dolores Gonzales play music from big speakers and cheer as students line up before heading to class.
鈥淚t feels really good,鈥� said Principal Parisa Asgharzadeh. 鈥淓nergy鈥檚 high. The school building鈥檚 ready. Our custodial staff worked really hard to prepare the campus. The floors are shining. Yeah, it鈥檚 good.鈥�
With the exception of a counselor, the school is fully staffed, she said.
Dolores Gonzales is a dual-language school and a creative campus, which means the students have a concert or a visit from an artist or storyteller every month, Asgharzadeh said. The students make regular visits to the nearby ABQ BioPark Zoo, which donates the old toys belonging to the tiger 鈥� Dolores Gonzales鈥� mascot 鈥� to the school鈥檚 library.
APS Superintendent Gabriella Dur谩n Blakey said before the start of the semester that the district will not have an official enrollment count until the year is underway, though officials are anticipating a drop of about 1,500 students 鈥� the same as last year 鈥� across its 140 campuses, in line with nationwide trends from declining birth rates. The district had just over 63,700 students enrolled toward the end of last year.
APS will spend a record $2.35 billion on this school year.
At Dolores Gonzales, rows of tiny students with big backpacks lined up in the schoolyard, hand-in-hand with their parents, who were allowed to walk their children to the classroom door on the first day.
Seven-year-old Sophia Hernandez said she was both nervous and excited to start her second grade year as she waited outside next to her father, Joszhimar Hernandez, for class to begin.
Sophia told the Journal she was most excited 鈥渢o meet new friends.鈥�
Emiliano Leanos, 6, said he was feeling 鈥済reat,鈥� ahead of the start of first grade.
鈥淚鈥檓 really excited for it,鈥� his father, Sergio Leanos, said. 鈥淚鈥檓 still trying to wake up though.鈥�
Other special guests on the first day of class at Dolores Gonzales included Nugget Bob Thor, a bearded dragon and 鈥渆motional support lizard鈥� who spent the summer vacation with special education teacher Monique Schwarzel.
During the year, the students take care of Nugget Bob Thor and feed him, though Schwarzel said he鈥檇 already had quite a bit to eat.
鈥淗e gained a lot of weight this summer,鈥� she said.
Natalie Robbins covers education for the Journal. You can reach him at nrobbins@abqjournal.com.
