FARMINGTON – Ina Austin was adding last minute touches to her kindergarten room at Mallett School on Monday, even though it was pretty much prepared for the start of school in SAD 9 on Wednesday.

“I made a pact with myself. I had told myself every day that it rained this summer I would go work at school. Well …,” she said, vowing anew that she wouldn’t do that again.

Little monkey faces, each bearing the name of one of her new 18 students, were being added to her bulletin board in preparation for opening day.

“The first day is always hectic. The students don’t know what to do,” she said.

After 32 years teaching for SAD 9, Austin has seen many changes over the years in the way things are done and in her students.

This year, each teacher at Mallett School is starting the school year with a new laptop computer. Gone are the days of sending attendance and lunch lists to the office. An e-mail works much quicker. Rank cards are accomplished easier and quicker as well, she said. The computers also have the ability to aid in teaching.

“Very few students come (to kindergarten) that have not used a computer,” she added.

Most children start the full day of kindergarten after coming from a day care, nursery school or Head Start program that has already done most of the work on the play and socialization part of what used to be taught in kindergarten, she said. Now, her students manage to finish their first year with the ability to read some basic sentences.