Salem - Moments before elementary school students stepped off school buses for the first time this school year, kindergarten teacher Betty Marr admitted that even teachers deal with a little angst on the first day of school.

"I've been teaching for 30 years, and I still get excited and anxious," Marr said from a side door of her classroom at the Salem School as she waited for students to arrive. "We're all nervous."

Marr and other teachers did their best to help students cope with the nerves and a few tears by welcoming them early Tuesday morning. They hugged many students as they made their way into the school.

Students were then ushered to their classrooms, and a few kindergarten students were finding their new cubbies a few moments after 8:30 a.m. as the first day at Salem School got under way.

Schools in the region are scheduled to open throughout the week.

Here, it will be a year of change at the town's only school, which provides education for elementary and middle school students.

Salem School has implemented a full-day kindergarten program and departed from the half-day model. Joseph Onofrio II, the new school superintendent, will take over for interim superintendent H. Kaye Griffin, who worked in the school district for about 14 months.

The school is also in the midst of a $6.2 million renovation project that is expected to unfold over the next 18 months or so, Griffin said. It has added a new element to the usual settling-in process that unfolds early in the school year.

"Everyone is in a learning curve. It's probably a new bus for the students. It might even be a new bus stop. Clearly, it's new teachers and new staff," said Griffin, whose last day will be Friday. "The first day, everyone is making an honest effort to figure out, how does this work for me?"

The renovation project has provided the school with two new boilers. Construction work will continue in the coming weeks and months on a wing of the school used by elementary school students. About four classrooms and some bathrooms will be unavailable as the work continues.

Starting next summer, the most intensive phase of the project will commence when repairs are made to the school roof.

Onofrio, who earlier this year retired from his superintendent job in Old Saybrook, continued to get his feet wet Tuesday. He said he is still transitioning out of his old job and will officially begin work as the Salem School superintendent next Tuesday.

He said the three-day-per-week superintendent position was attractive in part because of the close-knit school system. He added that he always enjoys the first day of school.

"It's like we're given a second New Year's Day," Onofrio said of the teachers and administrators who watch students arrive. "You get to see all of their faces filled with optimism."

Board of Education Chairman Stephen Buck was also on hand early Tuesday to shake hands with a few students as they arrived. He joined Onofrio and Griffin as they toured the school.

At one point, Griffin watched a bunch of fifth-grade students learn to use lockers equipped with combination locks for the first time.

It was a rite of passage on a day of many firsts.

JEFF.JOHNSON@THEDAY.COM