Warm welcome: Summer weather greets students returning for fall semester

A week before the unofficial end of summer, thousands of Pitt County Schools students started the fall semester on Monday.

After several days of milder weather uncharacteristic of August, temperatures back in the 90s were expected to provide a warm welcome during the first week of classes.

Interim Superintendent Steve Lassister, who took over for retired Superintendent Ethan Lenker on Aug. 1, was enthusiastic for the new start.

“The first day of school is always exciting for me,” Lassiter said in an earlier interview. “We have been away from our students for about two months and we’re always so excited to see them.”

Students across much of the state are seeing their new teachers this week in keeping with a North Carolina law that prohibits traditional public schools from beginning classes earlier than the Monday closest to Aug. 26. North Carolina is one of 16 states that establish times when schools must start and finish.

According to Pew Research Center, students in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania don’t return until after Labor Day. By that date (Sept. 2), local students will be having their first holiday.

Six weeks later, they’ll get another day off (Oct. 7) for a teacher workday. And for anyone counting down the days until Christmas break, it’s 79 school days away.

Here’s a glance at Pitt County Schools by the numbers for 2024-25:

Estimated enrollment: 24,750 (approximately)Total employees: 3,600 (approximately)Teachers: 1,700 (approximately)Buses on the road daily: 196Beginning teachers: 115 new hiresInternational teachers: 88 overall (at 26 schools, representing 16 nations)Students enrolled at PCS Virtual Academy: 40Schools offering free breakfast and lunch: 38 (every school in the district)Schools getting new principals: 5 (D.H. Conley, Elmhurst, Grifton, PCS Early College High School, PCS Virtual Academy)STEM Schools of Distinction: 5 (Eastern, Wellcome, Innovation Early College High School, Lakeforest, C.M. Eppes)