Saginaw's first day of school - WNEM TV 5

Students hit the books on first day back to school

Summer is over and that can mean only one thing -- school's back in session!

Kids from the young fives to the high school seniors all got back in the saddle for another school year.

"New clothes, new school supplies, new friends, new teachers - what isn't there to look forward to?" said Safiya Mosley, with Saginaw Public Schools. "We were really sad that there was rain, but the students are here and the teachers are excited."

A new reading curriculum for K-12 is being implemented in the Saginaw Public Schools. The bus garage is also undergoing some changes. This year school transportation is provided by First Student Inc., a school bus transportation operator.

"We have eight brand new busses coming in October, until that time we needed enough busses to put on the road everyday and they have provided those busses," said John Kiraly, First Student Saginaw transportation manager.

All the busses will soon have safety gates on the front, surveillance and tracking capabilities.

"We have two cameras on each bus. One pointing at the driver, one pointing back at the students, that's to control any bullying situations. The big item is the GPS units, they will allow us to provide excellent customer service to our parents and to our administrators," Kiraly said.

With the school year officially under, I asked some students if they were really happy to be back.

"Yes, very excited to be back at school," said eighth grader Asha Jackson. "When you go to school you can see all your friends and learn new stuff, it's fun coming to school." 

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