Preston — You don’t usually hear “Happy New Year” on Aug. 31, but that was the greeting exchanged between Preston Plains Middle School Principal Ivy Davis-Tomczuk and Resident Trooper Cal Brown Monday as Brown departed the school grounds after student drop-off.

Davis-Tomczuk spent the morning greeting students who disembarked from school buses one at a time per drivers’ instructions.

One new sixth-grader admitted being scared on her first day at her new school.

“You’ll be fine,” Davis-Tomczuk responded. “You’re going to have a great day!”

Inside, several staff directed students to a chart on the wall listing where to go for orientation before their first classes in a truncated schedule. The middle school and Preston Veterans’ Memorial School will have half days this week.

The school system here opened Monday with a hybrid model of in-person and remote learning. Cohort A students attend in person Mondays and Tuesdays. Everyone learns remotely on Wednesdays to allow for deep cleaning of the schools, and Cohort B attends in person Thursdays and Fridays. Next Monday is a holiday, so Cohort A will only have one day in school next week, physical education teacher Eric McGlone told his orientation class.

Superintendent Roy Seitsinger said a few Cohort B students mistakenly were ready to board the bus Monday morning. School staff will have a debriefing session Wednesday to discuss anything that needs to be improved for the next group of students arriving Thursday.

Seitsinger estimated the number of students riding the bus and getting dropped off by parents seemed about even, with no overcrowded buses and no traffic jams in the parent drop-off areas.

“The day has gone smoothly,” Seitsinger said Monday afternoon. “We’re bringing in half our student population. Our staff are ready. I’ve walked around the classrooms. We’re doing the distancing. We have the tents outside.”

Students had many basic questions Monday. Do you sit on the X-marked seats in the cafeteria, or are those seats off-limits? Sit on the X, the principal answered. Now that hallways are one-way, how do you go back? You have to continue, go upstairs or downstairs cross the hallway in the opposite direction, and return to the previous floor facing the right direction.

What about lunch? Students have choice of cold lunches the first two weeks. Students must order their choice during the first period. In good weather, half of each lunch wave will eat under tents outside, switching places the next day.

“A lot of things are different,” McGlone told the 13 students spaced out in the gym, “but what’s not different is we’re back in school! There have been people in this school who have been working very hard to make sure you have as smooth a transition as possible.”

Sixth-grade social studies and Spanish teacher Chet Stefanowicz reviewed new and old protocols for 18 sixth-graders sitting in desks lined up in rows the old-fashioned way. Gone are the small-group seating arrangements in circles or squares.

Stefanowicz reviewed the hybrid schedule, explaining that certain colored squares on the printed schedule designate “live” online lessons. Also, on Wednesday afternoons, teachers will have live online office hours, when students can log in, ask questions or seek help with something and log out.

Jen Foltz, sixth-grade special education teacher, reminded students they will not use lockers this year and should be careful not to overload their backpacks. The schools will provide zippered bags with pencils, highlighters, rulers and other supplies to keep in their backpacks.

Foltz added that students shouldn't feel shy about asking for a mask break if they feel uncomfortable.

“You will be fine,” she reassured students. “You guys are going to be great.”

c.bessette@theday.com