Surge of adrenaline for first day at Horace Mann Elementary School

WEST ALLIS -- Tuesday, September 4th was the first day of school for Milwaukee Public Schools students -- but also for many suburban schools. At Horace Mann Elementary School in West Allis, when the bell rang at 3:00 p.m. to signal the end of the first day of school, there was a surge of adrenaline as kids raced to tell their parents all about their day.

Haley and William Negron knew their son, William, would have a good first day of school -- just by the way he left them Tuesday morning!

"I'm like 'how do you feel right now buddy?' He was like 'cool!' That's the one word he said to me. He was excited. He was definitely excited to be going to school," Haley Negron said.

Five-year-old Janiyah Penelton said the best thing about this first day was playing on the swings.

Kids at Horace Mann Elementary School gave the first day of school a big thumbs up, as did the teachers.

"It was an incredible day. So much fun! The kids were energized. We had moving action from inside to outside and just a lot of good learning and incredible books going on. The kids are excited to be back," teacher Jennifer Crawshaw said.

Crawshaw teaches first, second and third grades and said there were no tears on the first day, but the same couldn't be said for all the parents.

"I'm sad. Everybody wants their kids to go to school, but it was a hard day," Judy Hughes said. Hughes said she took five weeks of vacation to be with her kids over the summer and says she misses the fun activities they did, and isn't looking forward to heading back to work.

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