Students and parents arriving at Lincoln Elementary School Tuesday morning for the first day of school. For more back to school photos, see page A7. P-J photos by Cameron Hurst

From the sound of Betsy Rowe Baehr’s classroom on the second floor of Jamestown High School, it appeared to be a normal first day of school.

“We’re just waiting on a few more before we start,” she told her third-block 10th grade English students moments after the clock struck 10 on Tuesday morning.

The only difference, however, is that for the first time in 179 days, high school teachers like Rowe Baehr are in the classroom — her students, and the school’s 10th through 12th graders, are not.

Nevertheless, 15 of Rowe Baehr’s 19 students logged in on their one-to-one devices on which they’ll use Zoom to “attend” class each day.

“I know that this is an unusual start to our first day, but I am so glad you are all here,” she told her class. “Today is just about meeting me, getting to the right space and knowing that you are not alone — we are going to do this successfully, together.”

JHS English Teacher Betsy Rowe Baehr welcomes 10th graders to class virtually using a different technology to help sophomores, juniors and seniors continue learning remotely.

Like many teachers, Rowe Baehr knows that the 2020-21 school year — which began for many area schools Tuesday — will have more than a few bumps along the way as the nation continues to eradicate COVID-19. But, she’s committed to learning how to manage it along with her students, making it clear to those staring at their computer screens that she’ll be with them every step of the way.

“This is 17th year teaching and in a way this is like my first year again, because I’m learning a whole new way to communicate and I’m pretty excited about it,” she told her students from behind a podium fully equipped with a laptop and iPad that she’ll use for her virtual instruction.

“This is going to be good semester and I know that the spring was a bit shocking for everyone, but I’m very encouraged that we can make this meaningful, we can make this worthwhile — we just need you to show up,” Rowe Baehr said.

Across town, shortly after 8 a.m., elementary students started showing up by the dozens at Lincoln Elementary School, which will utilize a morning/afternoon schedule for students. Morning students arrived at 8:30 Tuesday morning while afternoon students arrived at 12:30 p.m.

Third-grader Gavin Dietrich was excited to be back at school for the first time in six months.

“It’s very good to be back because now I can see my friends and my teachers,” he said. “I’m excited to be back — I love science class because we can do experiments.”

Gavin’s father Mike was also happy to see his son off to school Tuesday morning.

“It’s good for them to get back and start getting back to a somewhat normal school year, hopefully,” he said. “It’s been a long six months and I think the kids need to get away from working at home and be here so that they can see friends to get things back to normal. For us, it’ll be good for him to get some time away from us parents and be with kids.”

Asked about having to wear a mask, the Lincoln student didn’t hesitate to describe why it’s important.

“We have to wear these so that we can stop the spread.”

Dr. Kevin Whitaker visited the Lincoln campus during drop-off Tuesday morning, the physical symbol of a culmination of a month’s work of non-stop work to pull off a proper reopening plan.

“We spend a lot of time talking about what it will look like and what it might be and plan your best and now that kids are here, everyone’s happy and we’re all in the right spot so things are going well,” he said. “It couldn’t have gone better.”

In Sherman, district Superintendent Michael Ginestre said their morning return went off without a hitch — students in kindergarten through 8th grade in his district will attend in-person Monday through Thursday, while high school students will attend in-person on Friday.

“So far it’s been great,” he said. “Our community has supported these changes around here. The kids lined up and followed instructions to the T. … I really feel like they’re taking safety seriously. We saw a ton of smiling faces happy to be back in the building.”

Like Whitaker, seeing the plan come to fruition was a gratifying sight, Ginestre said, noting that there were no logjams in screening students, taking their temperature and getting them inside the building in a timely manner.

“We felt like we had a great plan in place, but until you do it and execute the plan you never know,” he said. “We’re really happy with the results and I think the main reason is that our parents really helped us out. They read our communications home, their kids were prepared, every single student had a mask on coming into the building. … Doors opened at 7:45, our first bell goes off at 7:50 and by 7:57, I was up in a second-grade classroom and they had pens and papers out and writing sentences. … It was fantastic to see.”

“This hasn’t all been easy,” Southwestern Central School District Superintendent Maureen Donahue added. “But, everyone has been working hard to make it work.”

And, though sophomores, juniors and seniors at Jamestown High School eagerly await being able to return to in-person instruction, Whitaker wants parents to know that the district is working hard to make that a reality.

“Eventually, we’ll get there,” he said. “If we can do this the right way and keep all of our numbers low, like low infection rate and don’t keep having cases, then we’ll keep bringing students back and have them all back as soon as we can.”