GREEN COVE SPRINGS – Students are sharpening pencils and teachers are preparing fresh lesson plans as the 2017-18 school year Tuesday with new ideas and a goal of becoming recognized by the state as an “A” school district.

According to the district, about 200 new employees have been added across their 41 schools, which house about 35,000 students and 5,000 employees and staff members. This school year will also be the first full year for newly-elected superintendent Addison Davis.

“I’ve seen nothing but excitement and focus,” Davis said. “You would never know that it’s the first day of school, it’s continuous learning. We have teachers teaching content day one, and that’s awesome.”

As part of Davis’ mission to stay involved with the principals and make a trip to every school in the district, he began the school year with four school visits on the first day.

He selected the schools based on specific criteria, some were implementing new programs, or had successfully added positive programming in the last school year that Davis wanted to see for himself. Others were chosen to offer Davis a glimpse into a school that he thought needed some improvement, such as Charles E. Bennett Elementary School in Green Cove Springs.

“We’re here for a support factor,” Davis said. “We’re here to identify how we can help them accelerate student achievement in this school.”

Bennett Elementary is recognized as one of the 300lower-performing schools in the state, which requires some sort of change in curriculum to attempt to turn the trend around. Principal Sarah Lawson, new to the school this year, has already made plans to change this and a few other things about the school for the year.

“We’re focusing on small group instruction,” Lawson said. “You’re closing any gaps, as well as having the opportunity to extend for the student who is ready to go beyond [standard lessons].”

The focus on small group learning is an attempt to meet the children where they are and pair them with complementary students. The other major change will be an additional 45 minutes of reading time for each student every day, which Lawson hopes will correlate directly with increasing their school’s rating.

As Lawson sets out to create an improved learning environment, she has been welcomed into the district with open arms from her fellow principals. All day Tuesday, principals from around the district were sending text messages and emails to Lawson that she described as “nice notes” welcoming her and wishing her a successful first day.

As part of her introduction to the school, Lawson organized a first day activity where she read a book to every student throughout the day before leading them all to paint a rock of their own that will be used to create a giant mural outside Lawson’s office. The emphasis on art, creativity and individuality will be a theme all year long, Lawson said, as students are resoundingly excited about the return of art and music education classes throughout the district.

“We want the students to realize that you don’t have to be like everyone else,” Lawson said.

As Davis made his way through Lawson’s campus, he stopped in several classrooms, kneeling down to eye level and talking to students about what is working for them and what they’re excited about in the coming school year. Davis was met with enthusiasm from students, who, although sometimes confusing him with a politician, seemed excited to answer his questions and happy to be back in class.

Davis also paid close attention to facilities around the school, taking immediate action when noticing things such as an older set of playground equipment behind the school that needed repairs. After a quick email or phone call, Davis had arranged for these sorts of problems to be fixed as soon as possible.

While walking with Lawson, Davis remarked after seeing most of the school, “I’ll say this openly, the campus even feels different,” recognizing that even though it’s day one of the new year he could already see the change Lawson brought to the school.