New Students, New Principals Start the New School Year in Alpharetta, Milton

David and Fran Ritter of Milton dropped off their son, Cole Ritter, on his first day as a sixth grader at Hopewell Middle School. Not only was it his first day back at school, but it was his first day in middle school.

"It went very well," said his father, David. "I think he was a little concerned getting the locker open. But we got the locker open so that was a good step in the right way. Little nerves, little apprehension, but he's really good."

Cole likes the new schedule for middle school so far.

"He enjoyed the fact that he can sleep in an hour later than the elementary kids," said his mother, Fran.

He doesn't realize that he'll be leaving school later yet.

It wasn't only Cole's first day of the new school year at Hopewell Middle School. New principal, Lenora Patterson, Ph.D, was out greeting students and parents at the car pool and bus lines. The school's security officer and evena a regular substitute teacher stopped by to say hello.

Traffic was a little more congested today than last week, the couple said.

"We're usually not going in this direction in the morning. We used to come to the elementary school. But it's definitely different," Fran Ritter said. "We can usually find our shortcuts."

Over at Manning Oaks Elementary School "it was a zoo," said Alpharetta-Milton reader Ken Glover.