It was a day of excitement, anticipation, and probably some nerves and tears as thousands of students across the city headed back to school. It was the first day of class for Ottawa’s two largest school boards, the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB) and the Ottawa Catholic School Board (OCSB). Shalini Perera’s daughter is starting Grade 1. “We’re glad to be back and it’s definitely a great experience all together,” said Perera. “We had a good summer, now it’s time to go back.” Teachers and staff have been getting ready for weeks for the big day. “Our educators have been here for a full week before school starts coming in and setting up and making sure that the classrooms look clean and bright and wonderful and welcoming,” said Leanne Stanton, principal at St. Gregory Catholic School in Nepean. Andrea Howard was dropping her son off first thing this morning. “It’s a first day routine so we headed out and walked to school and found his classroom, said hello to the teacher, and I was on my way,” said Howard. Across the region, the Ottawa Student Transportation Authority reported around 172 bus delays on the first day of school, but it was a smooth start at St. Gregory Catholic School, where all of the buses were on time. “We had four busses and they all came on time, and we had lots of smiling faces coming off those busses this morning,” said Stanton. The start to the year looking a bit different as students head back ahead of Labour Day weekend because the holiday falls later on the calendar this year. “We weren’t super fond of that,” said parent Amanda Deoliveira. “At the same time, they have just a few days this week and then a nice, long weekend, so I’m sure it’ll go over well in the end.”
