Before the doors opened for children, Bulloch County’s new superintendent of schools, Dr. Torian White, arrived at Stilson Elementary School around 7:05 a.m. Monday for his first campus visit on what turned out to be a smooth first day of the 2026–27 school year.

Then he met reporters at Julia P. Bryant Elementary School in Statesboro at 9 a.m. for a little back-to-school news conference.

“I’m super excited for the first day of school, lots of positive energy as I began my day at Stilson Elementary,” White said. “As our car riders were coming in, as parents were bringing their students in, teachers and administrators were able to call students by name. So I salute (Principal) Ms. Beth Stewart and her team at Stilson, and I’m looking forward to visiting a variety of schools today.”

In fact, after Stilson and JPB, he visited Mill Creek Elementary, Southeast Bulloch High, Statesboro High and Mattie Lively Elementary, for a total of six schools in the day. White had visited the principals of all 15 schools individually soon after taking office as superintendent July 1, then greeted the district’s more than 170 new employees at an orientation July 22 and other teachers and support staff during pre-planning days.

“It’s all about that positive energy,” he told reporters. “One of the emphasis points that I mention to all staff is the idea of clarity, capacity and community, and particularly on this first day, it’s all about building community one classroom at a time, and so working with our parents and our team members, everyone is making this first day a success.

“From our custodians to our maintenance team, school nutrition, it’s really a team effort to make sure that our students have a positive experience and that our parents feel great about starting the school year,” White said.

The school system has more than 2,400 full-time, part-time, seasonal, temporary and substitute employees, so he probably hasn’t met all of them yet. Nearly 1,000 of those are certified educators.

Next generation

Particularly with the Stilson visit, White, who last served in the Bulloch County Schools as principal of Southeast Bulloch Middle School from 2014 to 2019, had made some next-generation community acquaintances. With students from pre-K through fifth grade, Stilson Elementary is a feeder school to SEB Middle.

He served seven years as principal of his alma mater, South Effingham High School, before being hired back by the Bulloch County Board of Education this year as superintendent.

“What was really remarkable … from my time at Southeast Bulloch Middle, I actually saw some of my former middle school students bringing their own children in today, so it was great to be reunited with them,” he said.

Not all back yet

Monday, 10,420 students attended the Bulloch County Schools. As usual in recent decades, school officials emphasized that they report attendance but not enrollment the first day. More students, either newly enrolled or returning, who were not there on Monday will continue to show up over the next week or two.

“Students who are enrolled in the district, but who did not attend school today, are marked as a no-show, and are not included in the first day attendance count. The first 10 days of school is all about completing the registration process and recording student attendance,” school district Public Relations Director Hayley Greene stated in a “state of the system” outline provided at the end of the day.

Enrollment is still expected to return to around the 11,000-student level, and the number of students served over the course of the year to exceed that, she said.

Ordinary Day 1 problems

White also gave wrap-up interviews, beginning at 3 p.m., for news media. These included acknowledgement of some first day glitches of the kind that occur every year.

In regard to technology, some students and faculty members were unable to access their Google Suite accounts at first. But the problem was identified, and the school district’s Information Technology Department resolved the issue, White and Greene reported.

With school starting back on a 90-plus degree August day, a few schools reported air-conditioning problems. But the school district employs HVAC technicians, who were deployed to make repairs.

School bus rides and routes also present some every-year concerns while things get sorted out in the first few days. Administrators remind parents that pick-up and drop-off times are only an estimate while new students are still being registered and added to the routes.

“We ask families to please expect bus route delays,” stated the day-end report. “Use our online Transportation Help Desk to share concerns at bullochschools.org/bus.”

Enough bus drivers

But the district is fully staffed with drivers for the 115 school bus routes this year, which Greene in a media release called “a milestone.” This follows several years when school bus drivers were in short supply. The Bulloch Schools transportation workforce reportedly includes 125 drivers, 33 bus monitors and seven mechanics, serving more than 5,700 students who ride twice a day.

In a geographically big county, those buses together travel about 6,300 miles each day.

On the topic of school safety, the Bulloch County Schools are now assigned 20 school resource officers, trained deputies employed by the Bulloch County Sheriff’s Office under a collaborative funding contract with the Board of Education.

This year, the school district is also expanding the availability of “Say Something,” an anonymous reporting system, to the elementary schools. Introduced at the middle and high schools last year, the system gives students and the community a way to speak up when they have concerns about someone’s safety or potential threats or warning signs via a website, phone, text message or mobile app.

No safety issues

No school safety issues were reported Monday, White also announced as he touted a “One Bulloch” teamwork theme at day’s end. The first day is mainly expected to set the stage for learning on subsequent days, so expectations are simple.

“We’re super proud of everything that we see, great collaboration in the spirit of One Bulloch … just making sure that our schools accomplish the three goals for today, get our students in, get them fed and get them home safely,” he said.

In regard to getting them fed, the school nutrition staffs reportedly served more than 6,986 breakfasts and lunches Monday, including “grab and go” breakfasts of cereal, a fresh apple and milk.