A new school year has arrived.
Monday, students from both Carter County and Elizabethton will begin school, and the day will be met with excitement and trepidation as students meet new teachers, make new friends, and begin studies.
It’s also an exciting day for teachers who have a new class of kids to teach and make into productive citizens.
It will be an emotional moment for parents of kindergartners whose children are embarking on their first educational experience.
Most of all, back-to-school time is a good time to remind everyone to exercise extreme caution as they adjust to the increased vehicle and pedestrian traffic around school zones.
As always, motorists should pay attention to school zone flashing signs; should obey posted school zone speed limits during the hours specified; should never pass a school bus that is stopped to load or unload students; and should be on the watch at all times for unpredictable children.
Just as important, motorists should put your phones away. Don’t text and drive. Keep your eyes fixed on the traffic in front of you — kids walking, bicycling and vehicles entering and exiting the streets throughout the school zones.
Safety of our children should be the No. 1 priority of every motorist in Elizabethton and Carter County.
Students can approach the school year with a good attitude and absorb all the knowledge they can.
Teachers can practice lots of patience and love and remember why they entered the profession, never letting go of the desire to improve the lives of children.
Parents and guardians can support students and their teachers and school administrators by being involved in their child’s school activities.
In addition to getting your child to school on time each day, parents should try to attend as many of the open house or parent-teacher meetings as they can. It’s important for you to get to know your student’s teachers. Few parents make this effort after their children get beyond elementary school age, and yet the significance of those meetings don’t diminish with advancing age.
School officials throughout the area do an admirable job of teaching our children. However, ensuring that each student is doing what is necessary to get the best education possible is the responsibility of the parents.
The future of our city and county one day will rest in the hands of the children who will be filing into classrooms from now until next May. That’s why it’s so important that teachers, parents, businesses, industries and all citizens invest as much time and energy as we can to better enable those students to make that future more successful.
Education is their birthright. We have an obligation to help them claim it.
We wish all our students, teachers and administrators a successful school year.