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For many youngsters, it was just the start of another school year, but for Kindergartners at Tommie Barfield Elementary it was a profound experience.

Some were a little apprehensive, some downright unhappy, and some quite unaffected by having to part with their parents when the bell rang.

But teachers Dodi Bennett and Andrea Noll have been through the welcoming and calming process many times before, offering soothing words where necessary — or reassuring parents that all would be well within minutes of their leaving.

“The tears usually disappear when we get down to business,” said Noll.

In the passage outside the Kindergarten classes, Kayla Kalmanek, 5, sat quietly waiting for her first day of school to begin.

“She’s ready to go,” said mom Jennifer. “She’s been talking about it every day.”

Likewise Marc Rutledge, who last year was a pre-K student at Manatee Pre-K school in East Naples.

“I’m not scared,” he said. “How could I be scared when I’m 5. I’m going to learn all sorts of new things.”

It was a special day for Jamie Mackenzie, who ushered her daughter Kayla into class exactly 20 years after she herself became a Tommie Barfield Kindergarten student.

“It’s changed a lot,” she said, “with its new beautiful buildings, but it was still fun back then.”

Over at the Marco Island Charter Middle school, most youngsters were upbeat about being on the next step of their educational rung.

In keeping with the volatility that the ages between 11 and 13 can bring, however, discipline was high on the list of teachers’ opening statements.

New science teacher Mary Jo O’Regan, for example, led with warnings about inappropriate behavior and manners, but tempered those warnings by saying she believed none of her students would ever cross the line.

“We’re here to have fun, too,” she said, adding that school doesn’t have to be a grind, and isn’t ever intended to be that way.