About 133,000 students headed back to class in San Diego public schools Tuesday.
Adults who run San Diego Unified schools and the city's public charter schools spent the summer figuring out the state’s new school funding system and planning a transition to a new set of state curriculum guidelines. Those things weren’t on the minds of students streaming into San Diego High School at 7 a.m. for their first day of classes.
Some, including 16 year olds Dante Morice and Liliana Fuentes, sounded like they were still waking up while they thought about whether they were looking forward to the school year.
“Really don’t know yet," Morice said about whether there was anything he was excited about as he walked up Park Boulevard to the San Diego High School complex. "I mean, it’s all right. I just want to see how the classes are going to be.”
Fuentes spent the summer taking care of her brother, so she wasn't upset that it was time for classes to start.
“I’m pretty excited," she said. "I missed my friends and I really want to see them.”
Senior Kendra Jonzalez was definitely awake, but what she’s looking forward to is finishing all the credits she needs to graduate.
“I actually had a great summer. I studied at Cambridge University and took a college tour," she said. "So, I’m not that excited. But, I mean, I do want to go to school now because my college year is next year, so I’m excited about that.”
Before the first bell rang at Jefferson Elementary in North Park, Ezekial Battle, 8, was showing more enthusiasm.
“I want to get my learning up in, like, math and science and language arts," he said. "My most favorite thing is my friends playing with me and stuff, making me laugh.”
David Ramos, 10, said he was looking forward to getting back to class.
"I missed school, I missed my friends, I missed my teachers," he said. The thing he was most excited about learning about this year: "Math. I really just like thinking about numbers."
Whether San Diego students are excited about the start of school or not, a bump in state funding means they’ll have three more days of classes this year, 178 days instead of the 175 days they've had each of the last three years.
