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Walter Guerra pieces together a puzzle on his first day of kindergarten at J.B. Little Elementary on Aug. 14, 2024, in Arlington. The morning marked the first day of school. (Drew Shaw | Arlington Report)
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School buses across Arlington sputtered to a start the morning of Aug. 14, some for the first time since May, as morning commuters rerouted their drives around now-blinking yellow school zone lights.

“I’m ready for summer to start,” said Jack Mitchell, laughing as he walked into his first day of sixth grade at J.B. Little Elementary. 

All around him, students threaded through the school’s main corridor. Some yawned, struggling to shrug off their summer sleep schedules, others — wearing backpacks half their size — wrapped their hands tightly around their parents’ fingers.

For Jack, the morning marked the beginning of his last year at Little before heading into junior high. For his third-grade brother, Anson, it kicked off the year he’ll finally get to dive deeper into division.

Kindergarten students sit in line along the hallway of J.B. Little Elementary on Aug. 14, 2024, in Arlington. (Drew Shaw | Arlington Report)

And for pre-K and kindergarten students, who sat in lines along the walls outside their new classrooms, the hallway was their first introduction to the next dozen years of school.

It was easier for some than others.

As 5-year-old Walter Guerra cautiously surveyed his new kindergarten classroom, his father, Jesus, encouraged him from the doorway. Jesus’s shirt was still damp from Walter’s tearful goodbye a few seconds earlier.

Jesus Guerra, left, comforts his son on Walter’s first day of kindergarten at J.B. Little Elementary on Aug. 14, 2024, in Arlington. (Drew Shaw | Arlington Report)

Kelsey Stehr, Walter’s new kindergarten teacher, waved him in smiling. In Stehr’s nine years of teaching, she’s become well acquainted with first-day emotions, she said.

“Because I have my own emotions as well to deal with,” she said. “We try to turn those big emotions into big happy emotions.”

That’s difficult to do for about three days, Stehr said, but by the second week, everyone starts to adapt.

A father hugs his child before the first day of school at J.B. Little Elementary on Aug. 14, 2024, in Arlington. (Drew Shaw | Arlington Report)

Edgar Montez spent the morning trying to convince his youngest daughter, Liana, that adapting was possible as he dropped her off for pre-K. One hand held Liana’s hot pink backpack on his shoulder; his other hand, Liana wouldn’t let go of.

Montez stood in a similar spot last year with his oldest daughter, Lucy, who is now in kindergarten. 

“I’m proud, emotional, all of the above,” he said.

Edgar Montez and his daughter, Liana, wait to meet Liana’s pre-K teacher at J.B. Little Elementary on Aug. 14, 2024, in Arlington. (Drew Shaw | Arlington Report)

Little Elementary, one of Arlington’s oldest schools, enrolls around 750 students. As of Aug. 14, 68 of those are in pre-K. 

For Principal Beth Anne Woodard, the pre-K age group holds a special place in her heart, she said. Woodard inherited a love for early childhood education from her mother, who was one of Arlington’s first pre-K teachers and worked as the district’s Early Childhood coordinator.

As the morning drop-offs subsided, a soft signal beeped from the intercom.

“Good morning Little Rascals,” Woodard said, smiling through the speaker. The morning announcements seemed to come naturally to Woodard, who attended nearby Duff Elementary as a child and is entering her 15th year as principal.

Sixth-grade students play ice-breaker Jenga at J.B. Little Elementary on Aug. 14, 2024, in Arlington. (Drew Shaw | Arlington Report)

Woodard guided students through the Pledge of Allegiance and a few seconds of calming breathing exercises — “With your back straight, we’re gonna take a deep breath” — though these might have been more appreciated by teachers, she said.

Then, classrooms closed their doors and started the school day. Within a half hour, the hallways had gone from packed with families to almost silent, likely in tandem with the other 76 schools across the city.

Tomorrow, next week, and every school day until next June, they’ll repeat the routine.

Little Elementary School

Drew Shaw is a reporting fellow for the Arlington Report. Contact him at drew.shaw@fortworthreport.org or @shawlings601. At the Arlington Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.