With the start of school right around the corner, and their summer vacations coming to an end, you’d think educators would have a low level of enthusiasm.

But at Moffat County High School, where educators and administrators are preparing for the upcoming school year, the faculty is telling a different story.

“We’re excited to open our doors,” Vice Principal Tom Schnellinger said.

Schnellinger, MCHS Principal Jane Krogman and other members of the high school administration, are putting the finishing touches on their plans for the 2006-07 school year.

“We are going over (Colorado Student Assessment Program) scores, and trying to accommodate students based on strengths or areas of need,” Krogman said.

“We are working on getting kids up to where they need to be,” Schnellinger said.

Teachers are hard at work, as well, preparing their classrooms for the arrival of students in a couple weeks.

“Usually, most teachers will come in the week before school,” said Doug Field, who teaches math at the high school.

Field said teachers will try to get several things done before the last week of summer.

“I organize my classroom and get the bulletin boards how I like them,” Field said.

He also recommends making copies of handouts for the first week and preparing lesson plans for the year to get things started off smoothly.

Deb Roberts, who teaches reading, history and English, said she is happy to get back into the swing of things.

“I’ve put my room together and put up posters,” she said. “It’s great to see the kids show up”

Roberts is getting ready for her 10th year at MCHS. She said the first week of school is important.

“I like to get things started quickly,” she said. “On the first day, I like to get started by talking about my expectations as a teacher.”

Teachers and administration will been meeting to plan for the school year until the first day.

“We go through the policies and procedures,” Krogman said. “We’ve also been planning a training for substitute teachers.”

Roberts said her least favorite part of the beginning of the school year is the meetings.

“I’m getting my calendar filled out with all of the meetings I have to attend,” she said. “It looks like I won’t have any spare time.”

“We do teacher training for the first day of school,” Schnellinger said.

He added that it’s good to go over emergency procedures, as well.

Field said he isn’t a fan of the meetings, either, but they are necessary.

“We have department meetings, where we go over issues with the curriculum,” he said.

Field has been teaching at MCHS for 23 years. He said he is still eager for the first day of school every year.

“I look forward to the excitement,” Field said. “(Teachers) are fortunate that we are in a profession that we get to start new every year.”