Ledyard - The Gales Ferry School students exiting the buses on their first day back on Tuesday morning met a host of beaming faculty members who fluttered through the pint-sized crowd, bending over to greet their charges.

But one grown-up, a new face in school, did not have to tilt to see eye to eye with this year's batch of kindergartners, first-graders and second-graders.

Jaret Kulmann, the kind-eyed man in the wheelchair waiting by each bus's door as kids filed off, is the new assistant principal at Gales Ferry and Juliet Long schools. He has been a paraplegic since sleep-walking off a deck in his early 20s, but he uses his stature to his advantage when working with young children.

"Being at eye level for kids is a big advantage, because I'm 6-foot-3, so talking to a first-grader or second-grader and standing up is a little different. It's a little more intimidating than sitting down and being at their eye level," he said.

Kulmann, 41, is the third assistant principal in as many years and in his first year as an administrator. His previous job was as a sixth-grade teacher in Old Saybrook. He took the position because he sees the shift into administration as a way to affect the lives of a broader number of students, he said. He will still seek to build relationships with as many students as he can by spending time in classrooms.

He and Principal Mary Porter-Price share office space at both Gales Ferry and Juliet Long, which are adjacent buildings on the Route 12 campus. Kulmann spends three days a week in Gales Ferry and two at Juliet Long, and Porter-Price does the reverse. Besides overseeing whichever building he is working in, Kulmann's main job is to oversee special education at both schools, which, together, serve grades K through 6.

Kulmann's goal for the year, he said, is "getting to know the ins and outs of special education."

Phil Genova, who held the job last year, is now director of special education for the entire school district. The year before that, current Gallup Hill Principal Jennifer Byars held the job.

When the last student exited the last bus on the first day of school, Kulmann accompanied a straggler through the front door of Gales Ferry moments before the bell rang, passing under a sign that reads "Through these doors pass the greatest children in the world."

k.goldenberg@theday.com