Waterford — Before the first day of school at the magnet Friendship School had even ended, the line was out the door.

Parents and caregivers eager to see their children after their first hours in school this year — or in some cases, ever — lined up at the Rope Ferry Road school, each with a unique combination of anxiety, pride and stress showing on their faces.

The line stretched across a driveway and onto a patch of grass between the Friendship School and Waterford High School, then slowly dissipated as parents got in, showed their identification and walked out holding the small hands of 3-, 4- and 5-year-olds, newly full of pre-kindergarten knowledge.

Standing in the office after her daughter, Clara, was released from class, Ashley Lodovice looked down at the 4-year-old.

“Did you have a busy day, honey?” Lodovice asked.

Clara slumped down in an office armchair, her backpack riding up almost over her head.

“Yeah,” she said.

Mallory Pettiford-Jones of New London was in line to pick up her son Carter, 3, and her nephew, Henry.

“My son loves routine,” she said. “He was very excited to come back.”

Pettiford-Jones said she’s been closely following the saga that could lead to Waterford abandoning its partnership with New London to send children from both municipalities to the school for free.

During budget negotiations for the 2017 fiscal year, state legislators cut state money for magnet schools, stressing the budget of the regional magnet school provider LEARN, which operates the Friendship School.

At the same time, the state Department of Education did not distribute pre-kindergarten funding to LEARN for the 2015-16 year until late in the school year, creating a crisis within the agency and the Friendship School's governing board.

In July, the Waterford school board told LEARN that it plans to pull out of its agreement with New London to send students to the school.

LEARN Executive Director Eileen Howley said Wednesday that there had been no developments in the school’s funding structure or Waterford’s role since then.

Carter has been doing well at the school, and Pettiford-Jones said she hopes it will stay open as long as he is eligible to go.

“We’re hoping they figure it out,” she said.

Judy Porter, who said she has driven school buses for New London Public Schools for more than two decades, parked in a long line of buses waiting to take home the students who weren’t getting into their parents’ cars.

“I love the kids,” Porter said.

There had been no first-day jitters or tears from her single passenger Wednesday morning, she said.

“He got up and he waved bye to his mom, and got on the bus,” Porter said.

There was a little more emotion once it was actually time to start school, Friendship School Principal Andrea Simmons said.

Wednesday morning came with more than a few tears from both kids and parents, she said.

“There’s a range of emotions,” she said. “It can be difficult to see your kids off to school.”

Around the corner, school staff walked back and forth along the sidewalk holding clipboards and the hands of wide-eyed children, making last-minute adjustments to new bus routes and a crop of new students.

A pint-sized student with a buzz cut walked out the door, gripping the hand of a teacher with one hand and his enormous backpack in another.

“Yay, you did it!” said Jo-Ann Del Grosso, a special education teacher at the school who was helping coordinate the elaborate logistical dance of getting everyone on the right bus.

“The first day is always crazy,” Del Grosso said. But, she said, “it all sorts itself out, and then we’re golden.”

m.shanahan@theday.com