Fifth-grade teacher Monica Dutcher searches for a letter as she tidies up a wall featuring various clues and strategies for problem solving in preparation for the first day of school, Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2010 at Pinckney Elementary. Dutcher, who says she will be primarily teaching math to fifth and sixth graders, is one of several new teachers to the district.

Wednesday is the first day of school in the Lawrence school district.

Same thing Thursday. And Friday.

And next Monday.

That’s right: This year there will be four — yes, four — first days of school, depending on students’ grade levels. Starting Wednesday will be first- through seventh-graders, plus 10th graders. They’ll be joined the next day by half of kindergartners, along with all eighth, ninth, 11th and 12th graders; the other half of kindergartners begin Friday.

Preschoolers — more than 100 of them — are set to report Aug. 16 to Kennedy School.

Some other numbers to ponder:

45

Minutes earlier that the school day will start at New York School. The daily schedule for this year runs from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., instead of last year’s 8:45 a.m. to 3:45 p.m.

175

Total number of formal “student attendance days” in the district’s calendar for the coming year.

18

Number of school attendance days until Labor Day, the district’s first recognized holiday of the year.

86

Number of school attendance days until winter break.

250

Number of students enrolled, by Aug. 1, using the district’s month-old Welcome & Enrollment Center. The center at 110 McDonald Drive opens at 7:30 a.m. weekdays and officially closes at 4:30 but often remains open late as school approaches. Call 832-5000 to make an appointment. Walk-ins are welcome.

2

Doses of the Varicella vaccine — a.k.a. chickenpox vaccine — required for students in grades K-1 this year. Students in grades 2-10 are required to have one dose, unless a licensed health care provider documents that a student has already had chickenpox. This is new for 2010-11.

31

Date in August by which a child must turn 5 in order to enter kindergarten in Kansas.

$2.20

Price for an elementary school lunch, while secondary lunches will cost $2.45. Both are up 5 cents from this past year.

6:30

Time — this evening — for the Lawrence school board to conduct its formal public hearing regarding the district’s next budget. The meeting is at 110 McDonald Drive.