The moment is finally here

The moment is finally here – the first day of public school in Broward and Palm Beach counties.

If you forgot, unlikely, the hundreds of yellow school buses clogging the roadways will be a good reminder that summer is over for more than 425,000 students.

Some of the routines and people will be familiar, like it was in early June. But numerous schools have new leaders, new teachers and in some cases, a few new or temporary campuses.

To welcome parents and students and help the transition, Broward County schools launched a “Back to School Toolkit” on its website, browardschools.com. It’s a look at what’s new and changes to expect, along with parent information, student information, and important contacts, resources and tips. It even features a “problem-solving flow chart” assuming something goes wrong.

Not to be outdone, Palm Beach County schools just published on its website a list of all of the changes that people can expect today. It’s at this link

There are no new schools opening today. That’s a result of relatively flat enrollment figures in recent years and a depleted construction budget. But there are a few elementary replacement school projects in the works:

In Boynton Beach, for example, the new Galaxy Elementary modernization project on the same property is scheduled to open for student occupancy in August 2013. Students and staff are presently at the old Plumosa Elementary campus in Delray Beach until the new school is completed.

Good luck out there and let us know what you see out there for the first day of school 2012!   By Marc Freeman