NOXON – In about a week Noxon Avenue will once again be full of students making their way to the first day of school as the young pupils summer vacation draws to a close.

Superintendent and elementary school principal in Noxon Josh Patterson is looking forward to the beginning of the new school year and said there will be a handful of small changes.

“There are no major changes for us. It’s pretty much business as usual,” Patterson said.

Patterson did note one change did occur in the elementary school due to a retirement and a new staff member will be joining the Noxon team for the year’s upcoming classes.

The superintendent added the school’s enrollment continues to hold steady and a major emphasis of next month’s new school year will be improving the systems the school district already has in place.

“We are going to focus on utilizing changes made in the past more effectively,” Patterson said.

Something, which will be different for both staff and teachers at Noxon, will be the level of the school’s participation in the national testing program known as the Smarter Balanced Assessment.

Though Noxon did participate in this form of standardized testing last year, this year’s participation will mark the first time the school will receive scores.

Patterson said last year’s participation in the program had been as part of a pilot program.

Patterson added there are other evaluation measures being put in place for this year and the school’s staff will be busy studying past data and seeing what ways teachers and students can improve their performance.

The superintendent said he was looking forward to the resumption of fall classes.

“It is always an exciting time when you get to see the kids. It’s fun to see how they have changed over the summer,” Patterson said.

The teachers, staff and administrators will work to quickly get back into the swing of things once classes start up again.

The students will also likely have to adjust to the changes the end of summer and the beginning of another school year brings to their day-to-day activities.  

Patterson said the focus at the start of the year is simply to improve on what is already in place.

“We are looking to get better at what we are doing right now,” Patterson said.

Beyond academics Patterson said he was looking forward to seeing the Red Devils and Lady Devils compete during the upcoming fall sports season.

The superintendent added sports always generate some excitement around the school.

Noxon will open its doors for the start of the 2014 – 2015 school year on Tuesday, Sept. 2.