Draw me a picture of what you did during summer vacation.
It was the assignment of the day Monday as tens of thousands of Utah's children returned to the classroom after the summer hiatus. Granite, Davis, Murray, Box Elder, Alpine and Provo districts all opened their doors Monday. Salt Lake and Tooele are looking at Tuesday openings and Jordan, Ogden and Weber will be reassembling Wednesday.
In Kearns, the annual opening had special meaning at Western Hills Elementary, 5190 Heath Ave. (4850 South). The Granite District school suffered more than $100,000 in damage in a fire July 3, apparently caused by out-of-control fireworks.
Outside the first-grade room of Donna Kunzler, a sign welcomed children with the philosophical statement that "This is a new day, with new hopes and new dreams." That was symbolic of the upbeat spirit at Western Hills as teachers and students filed into class in the untidy clamor of a first day, grateful for the work that was speeded up to refurbish three burned classrooms in time for school.
Kunzler learned of the summer fire from parents who called her Salt Lake home to tell her that her classroom was burning.
"It makes you sad," she said. "But we have to keep on going to let people that schools are important. Kids are important."
Brent Hansen, lead district repair person for electronics equipment, was in class with Kunzler's first-graders, putting the finishing touches on repairs to the classroom's communications equipment. He still had work to do in another of the burned classrooms, where heat had "melted the buttons" on the system, he said.
Only Sherry Tanner's class was still in a relocatable unit, pending completion of work in her classroom.
"She'll be back in the school within a week or so," said principal Karl Wilson. There was an "amazing" response from the Western Hills community after the fire, he said, with donations of supplies, desks, chairs and time to assist in cleanup and refurbishing. The PTA even stepped up with refreshments to refresh workers putting the school back into shape, he said.
Monday, Wilson was doing the first-day thing, answering questions ranging from school lunch prices to where an extension cord could be located to which room was where. Sometimes his conversations were in Spanish to accommodate Hispanic families in his neighborhood.
Children in spiffy new clothes, many with backpacks almost as big as they were, anxiously hustled to find the proper classroom, while teachers such as Cheryl Anderson tried to keep her fourth-grade children in a line to make the march to the classroom. In a gesture sure to be repeated thousands of times over the next nine months, she put a finger to her lips and "shhhh-ed" the eager youngsters.
For transfer students Sam and Anthony Engler, second-and sixth-graders respectively, it was a first day in a stange school, but they were looking forward to the year. Anthony said his goal in life is to design video games, and that means "you have to know about computers."
He was in the right place for that.
E-MAIL: tvanleer@desnews.com