“It’s been a good day,” Fox said.

“Awesome first day,” Bartlett said. “It felt entirely different. I think last year we wanted it to be normal and it wasn’t. This kind of felt normal.” He then took a moment to knock on his wooden desk.

Fox recalled at this time last year, classes were starting with mask mandates, screening for the coronavirus and vaccination rules to sift through. Bartlett said the threat of outbreaks — and even closure — left a big weight of uncertainty hanging over them. Now that they don’t have to worry if kids are standing too close together or not, “you can actually do things like think about math and English and academic stuff,” he said.

Academically, Bartlett said students will probably have some catching up to do. TLCSD started a Response to Intervention program this year with federal funds from coronavirus aid packages, but he thinks this should be something the district keeps up indefinitely going into the future.

Livia Meade winds up to huck a football to a friend in PE at Tupper Lake Middle-High School on the first day of school on Tuesday as Lauren LaMere and Sarah Higgens watch. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Cerbone)

Schools will hold benchmark testing at the start of the year to learn who’s ahead, who’s behind and where their needs are. If teachers notice deficiencies, they’ll refer students to this program to get caught up on skills. The extra help will be personalized to their needs, Bartlett said, and the learning loss remediation will be woven into their class, with some extra time with the teacher.

He said students are being held to old standards again. Last year, experts were saying to cut kids some slack because the pandemic may be traumatic.

“I think what a lot of people did, rightfully so, is we allowed that empathy to lower our expectations,” Bartlett said.

But that is a slippery slope, he added. Kids try to continually lower those expectations, he said. Now, teachers are redirecting that empathy to bring them back up to standards.

“You have to hold kids accountable. You have to have some empathy when they don’t meet that accountability, but you’ve still got to cycle back and make sure they meet that standard,” Bartlett said.

Andrew Varner works on a name card with things he did over the summer for his first day back in school at Carol MacDonald-Schmidt’s fifth-grade class at Bloomingdale Elementary School on Tuesday. It featured things he did over the summer, such as reading “The Magician’s Nephew” the first of the Chronicles of Narnia book series. Bloomingdale Elementary Principal Bruce VanWeelden said one teacher read “The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe” for classes in recent years, and kids have been hooked ever since. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Cerbone)

There has been learning loss at SLCSD, Fox said, and her district also has funding for Academic Intervention Services from federal aid packages, but one of the positions still empty at the district heading into the school year is for an AIS teacher at Petrova Elementary. This position can be filled at any time, she said, the district just needs candidates who can find a place to live here.

Just a few weeks ago, TLCSD had several key teaching positions still open. Bartlett said he was worried. But some have been filled at the last minute.

“We had some amazing luck with wild unicorns wandering in off the street,” he said.

A man with a PhD in mathematics reached out to say he’s living in Tupper Lake and would be willing to teach. He was in the school on Tuesday and is in the process of getting his certification complete. A science teacher also “appeared out of nowhere,” Bartlett said.

These are temporary gap-fillers, he said. The district can’t make a plan on random “unicorns.”

Adelyn Saddock demonstrates a two-point bridge for Mary Beth Sullivan’s second-grade physical education class at Bloomingdale Elementary School on the first day of the school year, Tuesday. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Cerbone)

Both districts have new principals — Amy Spicer is the new middle school principal at SLCSD and Amanda Zullo is the new middle-high school principal at TLCSD.

SLCSD held a “Ready for School” event last week, where families picked up school supplies paid for by the district, got new backpacks and signed up for school lunches and after school programming. Fox said this was the best version of this event so far — 84% of the district’s students picked up school supplies then.

Community Schools Liaison Erika Bezio organized the event with teachers to determine what supplies students will need this year. The supplies were all paid for by donations, grants, federal American Rescue Plan money and from the district’s general budget.

Supplies are more expensive than ever, Fox said, and this takes the pressure off of both families and teachers on their way back to school. Teachers do not need to buy their own supplies, she said, but plenty still do but — because they crave it, not because its a necessity.

“There’s something about being a teacher,” Fox said. “We love supplies. I can’t help it.”

Students’ hands shoot up during a conversation on school expectations Tupper Lake Middle-High Schools’ new principal Amanda Zullo and Director of Student Support Services Trisha Wickwire held on the first day of school on Tuesday. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Cerbone)

Luke Robillard hikes the ball while playing a little football in PE at Tupper Lake Middle-High School on the first day of school on Tuesday as Tyler LaPlante takes off running. (Enterprise photos — Aaron Cerbone)

Abby Smith saves Kelsey Dewyea from getting hit by a football with a clutch catch in PE at Tupper Lake Middle-High School on the first day of school on Tuesday (Enterprise photo — Aaron Cerbone)

Students and families at Saranac Lake schools got to pick up school supplies, backpacks and forms for school lunches for free at an event the district held last week in preparation for the first day of school on Tuesday. (Enterprise photo — Lindsay Munn)