DECATUR - It was typical first-day-of-school chaos at Hope Academy on Friday morning as students returned to help initiate year-round school in Decatur.

Girls squealed and hugged in the foyer, parents helped little ones lug loaded-down backpacks of new school supplies, and middle school students tried to figure out how to conquer combination locks for their lockers. One student tried to figure out why somebody else's stuff was in his locker.

And new Superintendent Gloria Davis welcomed the kids back in person.

"It's only been two weeks (on the job), but it seems like it's been at least two years," Davis joked between greetings to students that often included warm hugs. "I'm settling right in."

Her former district in Dodge City, Kan., didn't have a year-round school, she said.

"This'll be a first for me," she said. "I think it's a great concept. Experimenting and trying to do different things with education is what we all need to do. I just think it's wonderful."

Hope students will have a three-week break after each quarter - the first is scheduled beginning Sept. 25 - and about five weeks after the end of the term. During the three-week breaks, said Principal Rhonda Daugherty, Hope will offer Students On Academic Recess, or SOAR. That program offers two weeks of remedial and enrichment classes meeting 9:20 a.m. to 1:20 p.m. Monday through Thursday, with buses running and breakfast and lunch served.

Dawn Hunter, community engagement specialist for Decatur schools, said a few staff positions remain open at Hope.

"We do still have a few positions open, but as you know, filling the upper-level specialty positions - science, math, etc. - is a problem across the nation. I would anticipate that retired teachers will fill those openings temporarily," she said.

Naomi Heckman-Johnson brought her daughter, 7-year-old Nadia Heckman, back for third grade. Nadia attended Antioch Christian Academy for kindergarten and first grade but has been at Hope since second grade. With lots more children in her classes, Nadia gets a lot more phone calls. Her mother said the phone rings "all day" with little girls asking for Nadia.

"I like it," Heckman-Johnson said of school starting in the middle of July. "That way she won't forget what she learned, like her math."

Nadia acknowledged that subtraction presents a challenge but going back to school now means swimming has to take a back seat.

"When I'm swimming, I don't think about math," Nadia said.

Nadia doesn't mind too much, she said, because when that first three-week break comes in September, all the other kids will be in school.

"I'll be outside playing," she said with a grin.

Chance Guglielmetti, on the other hand, is a bit less than thrilled about heading back to classes. The fourth-grader and his sister Osheanna, who's in sixth grade, returned to Hope on Friday in the company of their grandmother, Carolynn Moyer. She dropped them off and handled the chore of marking their gym clothes with their names because the kids' mother had to be at work.

"We don't have day care ready yet," Moyer said. "Normally, they'd be at day care in the morning before school."

Though Moyer said both youngsters were excited and ready to return to school, Chance only shrugged and rolled his eyes. His sister, on the other hand, already had hurried to the hallway to greet friends.

Registration day was Wednesday. The prospect of year-round school didn't seem to dampen anyone's enthusiasm, though Daugherty said about 50 students from last year remain unaccounted for. At the same time, Hope boasts a long waiting list for openings.

"We had a good turnout for registration," teacher Faith Bishop said. "We knew we were going to have full rooms."

Valerie Wells can be reached at vwells@herald-review.com or 421-7982.