She seemed eager to start the 2009-2010 school year, during which she'll be a cheerleader, play the flute and take rock guitar lessons. "It feels like a whole new beginning," she said.
The sun rose fully as Keyes, 60, completed her route, returning curbside at Bel Air High shortly after 7. She released the riders to a facility that features towering hall ceilings, an 802-seat auditorium, flat-screen LCD TVs in all classrooms and a stylish media center.
Floods of students from several buses merged on the main walkway, flowing smoothly through the front doors.
"This is so orderly it could be the 150th day of school, not the first," Tomback said - a nod to Principal Joseph Voskuhl, who had been organizing the grand opening for weeks.
Tomback said his own priority during his first summer was to visit every school in the county, and as he did, he saw "astounding, across-the-board dedication to the school system" among teachers, administrators, parents and students.
As miltary base relocations and other factors swell the county's population over the next few years, he said, the school system will grow accordingly. The county is now constructing two schools, a new Deerfield Elementary and a new Edgewood High, both of which will open next August.
But as Keyes lumbered off in bus No. 860, the old building in her rearview mirror, the day seemed to blend nostalgia and anticipation as one era ends and another begins.
"These students know the rich tradition of Bel Air High School, and they carry that," Tomback said as hundreds trooped into the school. "But they have a chance to write a new chapter. Listen to the banter! I think they already understand that."
