CINCINNATI — Students get your notebooks ready because class is back in session!
It’s the first day of school for some of the largest school districts in Greater Cincinnati including, Cincinnati Public Schools and Boone County Schools.
CPS Superintendent Iranetta Wright visited Hughes STEM High School and Dater Montessori School.
“It feels great. So far, we have early reports of our school day starting and starting on time. We’ve had nothing uncommon when it comes to transportation and that feels great. The energy in the school building has been phenomenal,” Wright said.
CPS welcomed back around 35,000 students across 66 schools.
Wright noted she likes to visit her schools often to hear from students and see how their strategic plan is being implemented.
“It’s important for us to recognize what we’re doing in our offices but more importantly 'how’s that transitioning into school buildings? What does it look like in terms of implementation?'" Wright said.
One of the things she learned from students on her visits last school year is that the code of conduct needed to be updated.
“[We learned] a lot about our code of conduct. I have new superintendent’s leadership group for students and they have talked a lot about our code of conduct. They were involved in the revisions of the code,” she said. “They talk about engagement, what they want to see in classes, what they’re not happy about in classes. They talk about what they feel good about and what they don’t.”
HAPPENING NOW: Cincinnati Public Schools Superintendent Iranetta Wright is talking with Hughes STEM High School students on their first day of school. She’s popping into a few different classrooms. @WCPO pic.twitter.com/MclRd7VHnA
— Jessica Hart WCPO (@JessicaHartTV) August 17, 2023
Roll Hill School Principal Vicki Graves-Hill said she is ready to tackle a new school year.
“I’m excited to see the kids. I’m excited to see the parents and the teachers,” she said.
Graves-Hill has been working at Roll Hill School for 18 years. She noted some of her students parents were once her students.
She said they’ll continue their focus on academics in three key areas.
“We’re going to continue our superintendent’s initiative of the ABC’s. It’s going to be easy for us we’re coming back at a good place because we did well academically this year. Our main focus will continue to be on english, language arts, and math,” she said.
Wright introduced the ABC’s last year and plans to expand on it this year.
“This year our theme is igniting the ABC’s. So, we’re continuing the work and focus we have around academics. We’re looking more closely at behavior and how we’re really working with our students through restorative practices and how we’re continuing our celebrations. Our culture of celebration, a culture or respect, a culture of admiration,” Wright said.
She added she has several goals she hopes to accomplish this year.
“It is really focusing primarily on achievement. How are we looking at our students and our student outcomes. How are we looking at students who are in third grade, sixth grade, and what are we doing around graduation rate. Another goal would be around attendance as well, making sure we are improving in attendance not just daily attendance but overall decreasing in chronic absenteeism as well," she said.
Another goal Wright has is transportation. She wants students to arrive to school safe and on time. A district spokesperson said they have an new transportation call center staffed by CPS employees.
Kindergarten through 12th grade students started school on Thursday. Pre-K students will start school on August 21.
