William Wells Brown Elementary opens for first day of school

Excitement fills the halls as students return ahead of district-wide start

LEXINGTON, Ky. (ABC 36 NEWS NOW) — As students at William Wells Brown Elementary returned to class Wednesday morning, the energy in the building reflected the excitement shared by students, parents, teachers and staff.

“We start our day with high energy, kids can’t wait to enter the building, and we can’t wait to get them here and sometimes you know we got to push them out to leave because they want to stay all day,” said Principal Ebony Hutchinson. “But they love being here and I think starting the day in high energy this is what our building looks like everyday,” said Hutchinson.

Staff lined the hallways to welcome students, including some experiencing their first day of school. School leaders said the start of the year was filled with emotional moments, even tears of excitement, between children and their families.

William Wells Brown is one of the first schools in Fayette County Public Schools to return from summer break. The early start is because it operates as a Promise Academy, a model designed to provide additional academic support for students.

“So we’ve got some new spaces, we’ve have an open classroom space that’s outside of our cafeteria that teachers can use to bring their students out to do some collaboration between teachers,” Hutchinson said. “We have some new teachers on board that are just super excited to be here and work with our students, we’ve got some new kinds of teachers that have moved around,” said Hutchinson.

Hutchinson said the early start gives students at Promise Academies a valuable advantage.

“Just to give our kids some extra time to make sure they’re getting what they need academically ahead of everyone else in the district to make sure they’re getting what they need,” she said.

The rest of Fayette County Public Schools are set to return to class on August 13.