Minneapolis Students Head Back To School For New Year

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Students in the Minneapolis Public School district went back to school today. With the first day often comes a mix of emotions at the drop-off spots.
WCCO was at Lake Nokomis's Keewaydin Community School as students parted ways with family and walked into a brand-new year.

Students said they were excited for a new classroom and sad that summer's over, plus coping with a bit of that first-day-of-school anxiety.

Students weren't the only ones.

"It's anxiety for me. I'm kind of nervous. She's a sixth-grader now," parent Floydette Swickard said.

"Actually he woke up about 5 a.m., so he was just staying up and staying ready," parent Emmitt Smith said, about his sixth-grader. "He's excited about his new teacher."

Having some support helps, which is why Principal La Shawn Ray decided to start his third year at Keewaydin meeting his students before they even walked through the door.

"I want all our kids to grow socially, emotionally, meet their MCA test scores," he said.

He's confident his teachers have the curriculum to help make it happen.

Keewaydin is one of two campuses that form Lake Nokomis Community Schools. Classes there started at 9:40 a.m. -- which is among the later start times in the district -- and they'll get out of class at 4:10 p.m.

The later start time has been that way for at least the past few years that Ray has been principal, however 20 other Minneapolis Public Schools changed their start time this year, ranging anywhere from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m.

School is scheduled to run until June 2019, with two weeks off over the holidays.