Electronic school bells were ringing throughout Rome City Schools on Wednesday, Aug. 1, as students and teachers came together for the first day of school.

Registration started early at several schools and went off without many hitches, according to Rome City Schools Superintendent Gayland Cooper. He received only two phone calls and said things ran smoothly across the district.

“I believe the principals and teachers have done a great job with registration and answering questions by parents at the schools,” said Cooper.

Principal Phil Wood of Southeast Elementary said that extra staff preparation for the first day paid off and by 10:30 a.m. all students were registered and sent to their classes. He expects more students to enroll in the next few days and that it will be “business as usual” by Monday.

“It’s been the smoothest first day of school opening so far,” said Wood.

At East Central Elementary enrollment was up, with 535 students registered, compared to 508 the previous year’s first day, according to Principal Parke Wilkinson.

“It’s a big increase this year on the first day of school,” said Wilkinson. “We’re excited to have a lot of new students.”

It was a similar enrollment story at Rome Middle, where Principal Greg Christian reported more than 100 new students, according to Cooper.

Cooper said his biggest concern of the day was getting students home safely on the buses and that there were systems in place to ensure their safe transportation such as name tags including personal information.

Rome police officers were on hand to assist with to-and-from traffic around the schools and their presence made an impact on West End Principal Buffi Murphy.

“That was really helpful for them to help out this week,” said Murphy.

After Rome City's return to classes Wednesday, Aug. 1, both Unity Christian School and the Georgia School for the Deaf start Monday. Floyd County Schools and St. Mary’s go back Aug. 8. Berry elementary and middle starts Aug. 10. Darlington returns Aug. 20.