Directional signs tell Blacksburg Middle School students where to go during their first day on the campus of the old Christiansburg Middle School.

Blacksburg Middle School eighth-grade Spanish teacher Sheila Reyna begins the school year by making a presentation to her students.

Matt Gentry | The Roanoke Times

Blacksburg Middle School eighth-grade students leave mobile classrooms during the first day of school on the campus of the old Christiansburg Middle School.

| Anna L. Mallory

anna.mallory@roanoke.com, 381-8627

CHRISTIANSBURG -- After a summer's worth of debate, complaints and renovation, Montgomery County's plan to shift nearly 2,000 students around is in motion.

On Monday, students across the district returned to classrooms, but about 900 Blacksburg Middle School students actually started school in another town -- Christiansburg -- while the town's high school students matriculated at Blacksburg Middle School. About 100 students who attended Independence Secondary School and Rivendell alternative education programs also were shifted.

It's part of the school system's temporary solution to the Blacksburg High School gym collapse on Feb. 13 and the subsequent closure of the building because of safety concerns.

In the meantime, the county's board of supervisors is weighing the school board's request for $125 million to build a new Blacksburg High School and construct a new high school and make renovations in Riner.

By most accounts, the day at what school officials jokingly refer to as BMS-East (yes, they know it's actually south) went smoothly. However, a few glitches, such as late buses and disoriented students and teachers did happen.

A morning fog slowed routes and an automobile crash detoured some buses while picking up middle and high school students, causing them to be about 30 minutes late to the 40-year-old building, said Supervisor of Transportation Rebecca Mummau.

"The hard part's over," Principal John Wheeler said of his tumultuous summer while waiting on buses to roll in behind the school.

To accommodate the late bus arrival, Wheeler held students already on campus in their homerooms for about 30 minutes and the first period was abbreviated to about five minutes.

While parents complained earlier in the summer about extensive traffic at the Christiansburg location, the parent drop-off loop -- extended into what was formerly a grassy field -- appeared to run smoothly.

Cars and minivans lined up in front of the building and along Sheltman Street, and the school's resource officer, a Blacksburg police officer, directed drivers.

"I like the way they've got it set up," Vanessa Hungate said after she dropped off sixth-grader Dallas Noe.

The rest of the morning appeared to be just another school day.

Students dressed to impress, and teachers and leaders helped to direct students. Some children had trouble getting into lockers, and others didn't know where to enter or which section of the campus to visit.

But, that's typical in the first few days, Wheeler explained.

Now that students will be enrolled for the next 179 school days, he said he feels like things are finally back to normal.

But maintenance and construction workers are likely to be on campus through September, said school system spokeswoman Brenda Drake.

Some outside painting, cabinet installation in a few portable classrooms and bleachers in the jazzed-up gym still need to be put in place. Crews worked on the spaces through the weekend.

When the school board decided July 6 to make the shift, School Superintendent Brenda Blackburn asked it not to begin classes until Sept. 7 so more work could be finished. Her request was denied.

"It's come a long way," Blackburn said of the building Monday.

The school's renovation was budgeted at about $2.5 million and included the costs of a moving company, refurbishing the kitchen, a new gymnasium floor, painting inside and out, the 14 portable units, extending the school's drop-off loop, paving parking lots, purchases of new interactive white boards and technical wiring upgrades.

The shake-up caused concern among teachers, too.

During the past month, teachers scurried to pack up their classrooms in Blacksburg and to unpack in Christiansburg. They also changed some of their teaching styles.

Eighth-grade civics instructor Gus Teller, who is in one of the first rooms of the eight-classroom mobile unit, said he's going to have to learn to tone down his booming voice.

The cramped quarters also caused him to "be a lean, mean, teaching machine," he said, all smiles on the first day.

Teachers and administrators won't be the only adults on campus this year.

Because students are required to walk both behind the two-story building to the portable units, which are mostly used for eighth-graders and science courses, and to two separate wings of the campus, the school system also is paying "safety aides" between $9.75 and $13.60 per hour to patrol the grounds and direct traffic. Some teachers also will receive a $2,053 stipend to do the same.