PERU — Teachers and administrators greeted students Wednesday as they stepped off buses or walked from the parking lot on the first day of classes at Dirigo Elementary School.

Many teachers held lists of names of those in kindergarten to grade 5 and which classrooms they were assigned to.

Lots of students received a hug from their teacher from last year, including kindergartner Leona LaPointe from prekindergarten teacher Rebecca Hutchinson.

Principal Charlie Swan said there are about 355 students this year.

“We had over 40 new students enroll,” he said Wednesday. “Some are students who had moved away and have returned, and others are new to the school. Our classrooms are fully staffed this year, we are just looking to hire two educational technicians for our Title 1 program.”

Swan said some staff members have changed roles, such as Devon Nelson, who previously worked in the school’s Title 1 program and will be teaching third grade this year.

Shayna Seames, who taught last year at Andover Elementary School, is teaching fifth grade and Sierra Pennington, a recent graduate of the University of Maine at Farmington, is teaching third grade, he said.

“We have a tremendous staff and regardless of the different roles we play, we are all excited about the positive impacts that we know we are going to have on our students this year,” Swan said.

Dirigo Elementary School is part of Regional School Unit 56, which includes Dirigo High School and T.W. Kelley Dirigo Middle Schools, both in Dixfield. The district includes Dixfield, Carthage, Canton and Peru.

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