Superintendents and principals have unanimously proclaimed thefirst day of the 2000 school year a success.

“Good planning and organization by principals and schoolofficials have caused this to be a very smooth day. We feel we’reoff to a good start,” said Perry Miller, superintendent of LincolnCounty School District.

Brookhaven School District Superintendent Dr. Sam Bounds agreed.Both superintendents had toured the schools and spoken with theadministrators this morning.

“It looks like we’re in the second month of school already,”Bounds said.

Several schools had new buildings or construction to greetstudents on their arrival.

Terry Brister, principal of Loyd Star School, said constructioncrews worked late into the night Tuesday to finish their work.

“It seemed we might have adverse conditions today, but they weregone by morning and the teachers worked late last night to finishpreparing the classrooms. We have a positive student body andfaculty,” Brister said.

The first day rush also went smoothly at Brookhaven High School,where work is under way to make room for additional classrooms andstudents are having classes in double-wide trailers as theconstruction continues.

“I think we’re having a smooth transition into this newsetting,” said Roy Balentine, BHS principal.

He said he appreciates the support and flexibility of thestudents and parents as they undergo major changes this year.

“Their attitude towards this is what has made it work,” hesaid.

Bounds agreed.

“Things are going extremely well, especially at the highschool,” Bounds said. “We had them seated by five minutes aftereight.”

Bogue Chitto School also finished construction of a newbuilding, but it didn’t cause any problems, Miller said.

“Things went very smooth there. Very smooth,” he said.

Robert Holloway, principal of Alexander Junior High, was pleasedby the student response.

“There’s a lot of excitement in the air and we are as busy asbusy can get,” he said.

Pamela Fearn, principal of Brookhaven Elementary School,agreed.

“The children came in extremely excited and ready to go toclasses,” she said. “Everything is going great.”

Monty Wilson, West Lincoln principal, said there were a fewminor glitches any school can expect on the first day, but theywere easily overcome and events are proceeding well.

“Any first day you will find scheduling problems to work out,but things are going well,” he said. “They’re excited about classesand ready to get to work. We’re having a great day at school.”

Wilson also witnessed his first senior grand entrance thismorning and said the seniors showed good leadership by eating agood breakfast and getting a good night’s sleep.

“The entrance was pretty good,” he said. “It’s a good traditionand we’ll certainly maintain it.”

Law enforcement officers provided traffic control at many of theschools this morning to ensure the safety of the children. Wilsonsaid many people slowed down today at West Lincoln, where theparking lot is across the street from the school, but it remains adangerous situation. He cautioned people to slow down whenapproaching schools.