It’s almost time to set the clocks, get the new clothes ready, and pack the lunchboxes. School starts for students Monday, Aug. 29. Teachers and staff returned to work last week, and open houses are being held at schools this week.

As Superintendent Dr. Darrin Hartness prepares for the new school year, he also reflects on the previous school year.

“Our students have made academic gains and have excelled in athletics and extracurricular activities. We are proud of how our teachers and staff are using the resources our community has invested in public education,” he said.

“Davie County Schools continues to be recognized as a district ranked 2 among the 115 districts in the state for the highest return on investment. Our teachers are some of the best in the country, and I continue to receive comments and emails from parents thanking our teachers who go above and beyond the call for their children. I appreciate the parents, members of our community, and local foundations, such as the Davie Community Foundation and Mebane Charitable Foundation, for their support. We are excited to begin the 2016-17 school year.”

Subscribe to Hartness’ regular article, School Matters, an electronic news source, on the school system’s website.

This will also be the last year a class will graduate from the Davie County High School current campus on US 601 South in Mocksville. A new school on Farmington Road near I-40 is scheduled to open next year.

Sixth grade open houses will be Wednesday, Aug. 24, from 4:30-6:30 p.m., and freshman orientation at Davie High will be the same day, from 2-4 p.m.

On Thursday, open house at the elementary schools is from 5-7 p.m.; at the middle schools for seventh and eighth graders from 4:30-6:30 p.m., and at Davie High for grades 10 to 12 from 5:30-7:30 p.m.

Central Davie Academy open house is Thursday from 2- 4 p.m.

Davie County Early College High School students went back to school Aug. 8.

School hours are 8:10 a.m.-2:50 p.m. elementary; 7:55 a.m.-3:09 p.m. middle; and 8:20 a.m.-3:20 p.m. at Davie High.

Hours at Central Davie are 8:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. for middle school, 8:30 a.m.-3 p.m. for high school, and out of school suspension is 8:30 a.m.-2 p.m.

At the Early College, hours are 8:30 a.m.-3:15 p.m.

Meal prices are $1.10 for breakfast for grades six to eight and $1.35 for breakfast for grades nine to 12. Breakfast for pre-K to fifth grade is free.

Pre-K lunch is $2.30; kindergarten through fifth grade is $2.55, and the price for lunch for grades six to 12 is $2.80.

Administrators are:

Central Davie Academy: Beth Edwards, principal.

Cooleemee Elementary: Cindy Stone, principal, and Sam Brown, assistant principal.

Cornatzer Elementary: Catherine Moreland, principal, and Kimberly Stacey, assistant principal.

Davie County Early College: Denise Absher, principal.

Davie County High: Doyle Nicholson, principal; Kathy Courtemanche, Tabatha Hudson, Alvin Rubin, and Johnathan Sidden, assistant principals.

Mocksville Elementary: Jennifer Swofford, principal, and Thomas Connors, assistant principal.

North Davie Middle: Mary Foster, principal, and Cindy Myers, assistant principal.

Pinebrook Elementary: Brooke Preslar, principal, and LaShaunda Plain-Mamon, assistant principal.

Shady Grove Elementary: Mary Margaret Sullivan, principal, and Elisabeth Bolick-Spillman, assistant principal.

South Davie Middle: Melissa Lynch, principal, and Andy Obermann, assistant principal.

William R. Davie Elementary: Karen Stephens, principal, and Brittany Head, assistant principal.

William Ellis Middle: Leigh Walters, principal, and Alanna Kotas, assistant principal.

Bus route information is at www.davie.k12.nc.us/district/departments/transportation.

Bus stop information can be obtained by calling the child’s school and speaking with the bus coordinator.

Todd Naylor, director of transportation, reminds motorists to be watchful Monday morning for stopped buses and students waiting for buses. Stop arm laws are enforced, and buses are equipped with cameras inside and outside the bus to aid in the prosecution of drivers who pass stopped buses. The law about who must stop can be viewed at www.ncbussafety.org; click on the school bus safety link.

Bus drivers, Naylor said, communicate with students by hand signals to let them know when it is safe to cross the road, and drivers should watch for those hand signals.

Morning runs are posted on the school system’s website, but routes change daily so stop times are not listed on the website, Naylor said.

“If parents have questions and contact their school’s bus coordinator, keep in mind it may take several days to establish a new stop if the child is not currently assigned to a bus stop, so please be patient as we work through a large volume of requests this time of year.”

Parents may register their child to ride the bus or may make a change by visiting https://goo.gl/rQdJqj.

In the works, said Naylor, is a web query that parents can access from the school system’s website that, by typing in an address, will tell the closest bus stop, bus number and approximate stop time. Naylor said parents would be notified when that feature is available.