Dust off the protractor, remember the book bags, notebooks and No. 2 pencils … and don’t forget to give mom or dad a kiss good-bye before trouncing down the road through the early morning air to the bus stop.

School’s back in session in the North End, classes began Wednesday across the North Kitsap School District. And as the chugging yellow Thomas and Bluebird school busses came out of their summertime hibernation, kids were also emerging from the 11-week slumber of fun in the sun.

The 7 a.m. wake-up call is a definite detriment of back to school days for North Kitsap High School junior Roberto Molina.

“I’m going to miss sleeping in and not actually having to do anything — being carefree,” Molina said after the first day of school Wednesday.

As junior high and high schoolers returned to their educational responsibilities, kindergartners took their first step into the school system with anxious parents waving.

“Back to school” events were hosted at many NKSD schools Tuesday, welcoming students back to their home away from home for the upcoming school year. Some students are stepping into new situations as they make the transition from elementary to junior high school, or from junior high up to high school. While others remain, set to play their roles in the studious game of life.

“You get to feel cool over the underclassmen because you are older,” junior Jacob Haynes said of his new upperclassman status.

But some of NKHS underclassmen, like sophomore Alexandra Bennett, are just happy to be in the school’s environment of elevated freedom and responsibility.

“It’s just a really, really good vibe there … very friendly,” Bennett said of NKHS. “To have fun is really my motto, you can’t really not have fun in high school.”

Among the fun of entering the high school realm are challenges like moving through a hall filled with wall-to-wall bodies trying to find the correct classroom number as well as eating lunch amongst a human ocean.

“The most memorable thing from the first day would be lunch, just walking in and you couldn’t see anything but a sea of people,” Bennett said prompting thoughts of the NKSD’s transition to two high schools and a new grade level configuration in 2007. “I can see the need for it, but it’s gonna be hard next year when we’ve just gotten a chance to meet up with all the Kingston kids then they will be gone.”

That upcoming absence of Kingston High School’s student body is leading this year’s NKHS students to cherish the final year that both Poulsbo and Kingston area kids will share at the high school level. But at the elementary level schools, a major focus this year is on a smooth and painless transition of saying goodbye to its sixth grade configuration.

“The big thing will be communicating the fact that this will be the last year of being a real K-6 school … and we are going to have to be prepared for that,” said Suquamish Elementary school principal Joe Davalos, noting the upcoming departure of between 50-90 kids and subsequent staff numbers. “That will be something that we will work on all year.”

While the district’s administrative team is focused on implementing a transition that has been forming over the past five years, Supt. Gene Medina is urging teachers to stay centered on the goal of helping every student succeed.

“There is a transition plan, there are about 27 action plans; we have a timeline where we’ve laid out everything that’s going on every month, that will be on the Web site, and we will keep them posted,” Medina said. “So (they) can stay focused on what (they) need to stay focused on.”

“The core of our work is success for every student, that is the main thing,” he said. “The main thing continues to be the main thing. We’ve been planning on this transition for five years … we’re very focused on our core work — that is why we are here.”