WESTSIDE — The big week has arrived. Whether it has been eagerly awaited, or fervently dreaded, it is here.

Ready or not, kids all over the area are getting started into the new routine of another school year. It’s not only busy for the kids, but it makes for a busy week for lots of other folks too.

However, for some, this week may actually be a bit of slow-down compared to the days of preparation required to get ready for it. Since I recently moved into a brand new school building, the time-consuming task of unpacking and setting up my room from scratch was required, in addition to all the usual things needed to get ready for a normal year. It is an exciting new beginning and I gladly accept the extra effort needed in preparation for it.

And, when I think of the endless hours spent by so many others to ensure that our schools and everything about them are ready for the students to arrive, I amgrateful to them as well. It truly “takes a village” to educate and care for the young people who will spend most of their week days with us over the next nine-plus months.

Tremendous effort and long hours are spent behind the scenes when planning for a new school year. While I was still enjoying my summer break, many minds were at work figuring out every detail, from wiring new technology into classrooms to the logistics of providing training to large groups of teachers throughout the district, to changing bus routes, and down-to-the-minute bell schedules and lots, lots more. Endless, precise details are par for the course when getting a school ready to run like clockwork, and I am grateful to the dedicated people that figure it all out so I have what I need tofocus on my little piece of the big education puzzle.

I am more proud than ever to work in the field of education and for theopportunity it gives me to work alongside the many great people who have also accepted this calling.

Sometime back I received a forwarded email that lamented the sad state of public schools today. I don’t know who started that pass-around email, but they obviously had not spent any time in the schools like the ones in our area. I have worked in four school districts in western Benton County in the last two decades, and what I read didn’t sound like any of them to me, which again makes me grateful.

It is a competitive world and all of our kids need the kind of education that prepares them for the best chance of success once they graduate. No matter how much effort is spent before the school year begins or thereafter, we might not get it right every time for every student who enters the hallways. Nevertheless, another new school year is started with this very hope in mind.

Annette Rowe is a freelance writer from rural Gentry and a speech-language pathologist at Siloam Springs High School. She may be reached by email at awalkinthepark50 @ yahoo.com.

Opinion, Pages 6 on 08/17/2011