Advancing to third grade at Pinckney School brings with it certain advantages of seniority: After passing through earlier grades, the young veterans already know the building and how to manage at lunchtime.

Kalim Dowdell, 8, copies figures from the chalkboard in math class at Pinckney School. School started Wednesday for many students in Lawrence.

But being in third grade meant an extra bonus for 8-year-old Charlie Backus.

“It’s the first year for me to have my class in the upstairs,” Charlie said Wednesday, his first day of classes this school year.

In Pinckney, kindergarten through second grade classes are on the first floor. Third through sixth grades are on the second floor.

Charlie and hundreds of Lawrence schoolchildren reported back to classes Wednesday after spending about 80 days on summer break. High school juniors and seniors and eighth- and ninth-grade students in junior high school will return today. Kindergartners will go to school today or Friday. All of the district’s nearly 10,000 students will be back full-time Monday.

Charlie said loading his desk with school supplies was one of the best parts of the day. His teacher, Brenda Hatesohl, used that activity as an exercise in following directions, telling students where notebooks and folders should go in the desks.

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“It’s been remarkably smooth so far,” she said while students lined up in the classroom preparing to go to lunch. “It’s a bit of an early start. I have two students who aren’t here yet. But the kids come to school and settle into a routine pretty fast.”

Some parents and students have balked at the early start date for school in Lawrence. School board member Austin Turney even brought it up earlier this week at a board meeting.

“I’ve received more comments than ever before about the early start of school,” he said.

Some students won’t be in school for the first days of classes because they won’t return to town until closer to the time Kansas University is back in session, Turney said. KU classes begin Aug. 19.

Nina Nikazm, 7, ponders a math problem at Pinckney School. Nina, a second-grader, was among students attending the first day of school Wednesday at Pinckney.

He said he decided to let officials know what he was hearing so it could be taken into account as the district started working on the calendar for next year.

But 12-year-old Marisa Hunter showed up the first day. She said she had been looking forward to meeting new people after moving from Lenexa.

“It’s all very new to me,” she said. “The school, the people — it’s different. But I like it.”

Marisa attended a half-day of school at West Junior High School. All high school sophomores and junior high seventh-graders attended a half-day of school.

Marisa admitted to having some concerns: her locker, for instance. She and other students worry about not being able to open their lockers fast enough during the five-minute periods between classes, WJHS principal Myron Melton said.

Charlie Backus, 8, carries notebooks on his head on the first day of classes at Pinckney School. School began Wednesday for some Lawrence students.

“Lockers are a big thing for seventh-graders,” he said. “They scare them to death.”

But the first-time locker occupants were given time to practice opening their lockers.

Melton said the half-day of class for seventh-graders, which was repeated at all the district’s junior highs, helped students with the transition to junior high from elementary school.

“They can get used to West and get used to the building and meet other students in their age group without being quite so overwhelmed with 600-plus kids in the building,” Melton said.