FAIRBORN — Fairborn City Schools had a great first day yesterday, with new and old faces coming together to teach and learn in community.

“It was a typical first day opening,” said school Superintendent Gene Lolli. “Overall things went smoothly.”

Lolli said he enjoyed seeing the kids return to class, and there was a sense of excitement from returning students and faculty as the new year began.

“Everybody worked hard to make sure things flowed smoothly, our transportation, our bus drivers, I think everything went pretty smoothly,” he said. “I want to thank everybody for making it all work.”

The day wasn’t without mistakes, but Lolli said these “glitches” will be worked out as everyone got situated.

“Traffic flow into the building” was one of these glitches, as was bussing kids to class from home.

“Nothing that can’t be worked out,” said Lolli. “We’re in the process of fixing these minor problems.”

A point of contention with Fairborn schools and several others locally is the issue of locked phone cases. Fairborn, like many others, is using the Yondr case system to lock students’ phones up during class time, after which they will be unlocked.

Lolli said that while the cases were passed out to students today, the school is taking a few days to implement the new practice slowly.

“We will work that in in the next couple of days,” he said. “That will probably be Monday by the time we get everything passed out.”

Faculty members had their first day on Monday, with orientation and celebration with city officials and a live band.

“It was a great opening day for our staff on Monday,” said Lolli. “A lot of staff members were excited to get back.”

For the superintendent, the best way to start off the school year is with the smiling faces of students going on a new adventure.

“There were a lot of excited faces,” he said. “Some look very excited, some looked a little apprehensive.”

Contact Ethan Charles at 937-502-4532.