JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Many of the thousands of Duval County public school students returning to class Monday are starting the year with positive attitudes, especially Victor Mills, who is starting his senior year at Westside High School.
"I'm feeling pretty awesome," Mills said. "I'm going to knock it out and take as many opportunities as I can. ... My biggest plan is to make this a successful year and impact the hearts of every person."
Among the changes that Mills and others will find are different bus routes, student placement and less district-required testing.
"We had announced it in the spring, but word didn't go down to the student level at this point," Duval County School Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said. "(We're) very excited to know they're going to see much less testing."
That's great for Jeremiah Dawson, who loves football and whose favorite subjects are gym and math, and for Jeremiah's father, who is watching closely as his son makes a transition from private school to Lakeshore Middle School and wants to see his reading and math scores improve.
"He's good at it, but I want him to get to a higher level and do well in both subjects," Leo Dawson said. "He's also an awesome football player, so I want his grades to be right so he can be successful in life in general."
Sheria Scott, whose son is starting ninth grade, has similar goals.
"I really want him to achieve a lot of academic success this year," Scott said. "I'm really looking forward to his grades going up and getting prepared for college ... and possibly the military."
SPECIAL SECTION: More back-to-school coverage
Vitti is also pleased that the number of documents that teachers are required to fill out for each student was cut from more than 47 last year to only 13 this year. He said that will allow teachers more instructional time.
The superintendent spent the first day of classes visiting three schools around the district.
First stop was checking now new computers and big screens at Ribault Middle, which focus on science, technology, engineering and math -- the so-called STEM curriculum.
"Everything you see in the classroom you will get a chance to work with this year," Vitti sold the students. "Our goal is for you to become engineers one day."
Next up, inspecting the new dual-language program at Westside Elementary.
"You can see very early on, children in kindergarten starting to pick up Spanish, if they're exposed to it," Vitti said. "So the earlier we can engage our children in second languages, even third languages, the more likely they are to absorb them."
The students from Westside will continue on this dual-language track at duPont Middle.
Vitti then headed for Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, which opened a new building that includes additional classrooms as well as a bigger, better cafeteria.
"There's a whole positive energy. You can feel it everywhere you go in the building. Students are smiling," said Principal Jackie Cornelius. "They're just so excited; the seniors are thrilled."