Summer’s over for thousands of Philly teachers. One school welcomed staff back in style.

Summer ended Tuesday for thousands of Philadelphia teachers, and Nicole Patterson wanted to set the tone for the 2022-23 school year at Ziegler Elementary right away.

So when dozens of staff at the Oxford Circle K-8 returned for their first day, they entered on a carpet laid out for them on a path adorned with balloons and signs. People clapped and cheered, then entered the building to grab gift bags that awaited each of them.

“I have a blue-ribbon carpet for our blue-ribbon staff!” said Patterson, who took over as Ziegler’s principal after serving as assistant principal last year.

Luke Zeller, the school’s new assistant principal, shouted welcomes through a bullhorn. Though the pandemic is not over, he said, this year feels different.

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“After two years that have been really tumultuous, this feels like a year where we can right-set,” he said.

Ziegler was projected to have about 450 students; it’s already enrolled 500. The school added a teacher for its swelling English-language learner program as well as another special-education teacher. And though it has a new administration — longtime principal Robert Berretta left to pursue his doctorate at Harvard University — Patterson is a familiar face at the school, and her appointment was cheered by the Ziegler faculty.

The school district introduced a new reading curriculum for grades K-3 and a new math curriculum for 4th through 8th grade last year; this year, K-3 will get new math curriculum and 4-8 reading curriculum.

Quarantines and closures, changing rules around masking, new curriculum, social-emotional worries, and staffing challenges loomed over last year. Some of that will linger, but ESL teacher Jamie Roberts said she was mostly feeling joy.

“I can’t wait to see the kids,” said Roberts. “I’m extremely excited, and I wasn’t yesterday.”

Harriet Go, who teaches K-2 special education, was out for several months last school year with an eye injury. After multiple surgeries, she was cleared to return to the classroom and felt equal measures of anxiety and excitement.

Go is visually impaired and her commute to work is 90 minutes one way via public transit. She couldn’t get to sleep until after midnight and was up at 4:30 a.m. It will be great to get back to teaching, she said.

“But there’s still so much going on — not just because my injury, but because of COVID, and all the changes in society,” said Go.

Roberts and Go were thrilled at the addition of more teachers in the ESL and special-education ranks. By the end of last year, Ziegler enrolled students from new countries — it previously hadn’t had children from Argentina and Venezuela — and Roberts said she also expected refugees from Afghanistan and Ukraine. Roberts’ caseload was too high last year.

“You can’t really ably teach 75 kids,” she said. “Kudos to the district for realizing that we needed more resources.”

Some schools are still not fully staffed — Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. has said the district will not have every teacher and counselor position in the 114,000-student district filled by Aug. 29, the first day of school. Ziegler filled all of its open jobs by June, and when one candidate fell through over the summer, Patterson was able to hire for that spot in 10 days.

“It’s very special that we’re 100% staffed,” Patterson said.

Adell Shaw, who teaches 6th and 7th graders math, said she was looking forward to the year.

“We want to help our students and close any gaps,” said Shaw. But more than academics, she knows the year will be about students’ social and emotional needs. “I just have to keep my eyes and ears open for any students that may need extra help. You never really know what’s going on at home.”

First-grade teacher Kimberly Lingerman looked around her classroom and felt a little daunted. Everything was just as she left it in June, with bulletin boards covered up, chairs and desks pushed against the wall, boxes packed. Like many teachers, she’s also already spent heavily on supplies for the year.

Even 23 years into her teaching career, the beginning of the school year brings nerves, Lingerman said. She’s got 27 students on her roll — a big class, but not as large as she had by the end of last year. (Lingerman started with 21 students and got new additions throughout the year, ending with 30 first graders.)

Though some staff wore masks and some did not Tuesday, the district is requiring masks for the first 10 days of student attendance.

“I understand it, I believe in the science behind the masks, but starting out teaching with masks is hard,” said Lingerman. “They need to see my face, for phonics, and just to read my expressions.”

Patterson and Zeller spent the summer preparing for the school year, but if last year taught educators anything, it’s to expect the unexpected.

“It’s always the things that are out of your locus of control you worry about — something happening in the neighborhood, with one of your students,” said Patterson. But Ziegler is poised for greatness, she said.

“We’re going to be blue ribbon this year,” she said.