First day of school from years past

This scene on the first day of classes at Franklin Elementary School in September, 1990 was captured on film by Southeast Missourian photographer Mark Sterkel.

Published Sept. 3, 1974. Cape Girardeau public schools opened this morning with the assistance of more than the usual faculty. Here, Mrs. Michael J. Readnour acts as a teacher's assistant by playing a game with the children in a kindergarten class at Franklin School while the teacher greets new pupils and their parents. Mrs. Readnour's child was a kindergartener last year, so she is familiar with the routine. (Southeast Missourian archive)

Published Aug. 23, 1979. There was still time for a last-minute chat before classes resumed today in the Cape Girardeau public schools. Penny Windeknecht, 9, left, and Lisa Price, 10, relax for a few moments this morning in front of Washington School where they are both fourth-graders. (Phil Nash ~ Southeast Missourian archive)

Published Aug. 25, 1980. Sometimes it's tough, this business of getting an education. Chris Askew found he needed a bit of friendly reassurance this morning from his first-grade teacher, Mrs. Janet Curtis, at Franklin School. (Fred Lynch ~ Southeast Missourian archive)

Published Aug. 25, 1982. Summer is over--at least in one sense--for Cape Girardeau children who returned to the classroom today. Some 4,000 Cape Girardeau Public School students were back at their desks, along with these youngsters at Trinity Lutheran School. Here, the children walk from the school to Trinity Lutheran Church for opening day services. The first holiday of the new school year will come on Sept. 6 Labor Day. (Fred Lynch ~ Southeast Missourian archive)

Published Aug. 26, 1983. The hottest subject in Cape Girardeau Public School classrooms these days is just that--the hot. And it was no exception this morning in Mrs. Janet Meyer's fifth-grade class at Jefferson School. Mrs. Meyer was teaching her group in a breeze created by three box fans. Each pupil also kept a glass of ice water on his desk, taking turns at a water cooler to keep the glasses filled. Here, Stacy DeCourley fills her cup. At 10 a.m., it was 92 degrees in the classroom, according to a thermometer there. (Fred Lynch ~ Southeast Missourian archive)

Published Sept. 3, 1985. Those familiar yellow buses are on the road again, transporting youngsters to classes in the Cape Girardeau Public Schools. Boarding the bus for the first day of school at the corner of Bertling and Henderson here today are, from the left, Andrea Cotner, Keisha Twiggs, and Ramona and Tommy Robinson. All are students at Franklin School here. First-day enrollment in the Cape Girardeau schools totaled 4,066 children. (Fred Lynch ~ Southeast Missourian archive)

Published Aug. 29, 1997. Dylan Jacobs found some relief from the heat with an ice pack from his lunch bag in his first-grade classroom Thursday, Aug. 28, 1997 at Washington School. Cape Girardeau schools were dismissed early because of the heat. (Fred Lynch ~ Southeast Missourian archive)