 While thousands of students in the Bemidji area were back in the classroom today, reporter Cheryl Moore has a look at how changes in roads and bus routes affected their morning. The first day of school in Bemidji came with a lot of changes. There's a new school, some new roads, and some new staff members. Today has been extremely smooth. The teachers and the students have gone off as though there hasn't been so much of a transition. Jason Stonic started this year as the new Bemidji High School principal. He says he'll be focused on continuing the success that BHS has seen in recent years. There's three new administrators. All three of us have different skill sets, and so learning to work with them. The teachers will have some input. They have their own perspectives on what needs to be changed or improved. More than 70 buses made the rounds today, and even though there were a few added roundabouts, and even the new Jean Dillon Elementary School, everything still ran pretty smoothly traffic-wise. With the flow of traffic, the roundabouts the traffic keeps constantly moving, and so we were experiencing, coming out of Jean Dillon Elementary this morning, that our buses experienced a tough time making left turns. So they just took a right, went down to the roundabout, got their turn in traffic, made a loop around, and came back the other way. So we used the roundabout to our advantage for the traffic flow. It looks like we can call the first day of school a success. Looking forward, staff says they're hopeful that the rest of the 2018-2019 school year will be just as great. I think the message that I sent the ninth graders, and I continue to send it to even my own children, is the more involved you are, the more likely you're to have success and enjoy your high school career. So the more involved you are, the more fun you're going to have. Reporting in Bemidji, Shiramor, Lakeland News. The district is still in need of bus drivers. You can find all the information you need on the Bemidji Area Schools District website. If you enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Lakeland PBS.