BY ANDREA TORTORA
The Cincinnati Enquirer
UNION -- Halfway down the long line of students and parents that formed outside Erpenbeck Elementary's front door Tuesday night, Chapen LeGrande and Emily Henry waited.
This was their first chance inside their new school. They hugged one another, giggled and gossiped about who might be in their classes.
"We won't miss New Haven (Elementary) because all of our friends are coming here," said Emily, 8, slinging an arm around 10-year-old Chapen's shoulders. "And I'll still have my craziest friend with me, even if she is in the next grade."
Getting started
For some of the 750 students that will be attending the brand new Erpenbeck school, Tuesday was meet-the-teacher, tour-the-building and pay-your-fees night all wrapped up into one.
By the end of the week, students in every grade level will have gone through the same process.
Once inside, families got information on bus schedules and the PTA. They could buy green-and-white Erpenbeck T-shirts depicting the school's mascot, a Mustang (as in the horse).
"This night is so nice. It's exciting. It makes you feel like you're invited to get involved," said Sue LeGrande, Chapen's mother. "But I'm surprised they got it done on time."
Gail Goebel's fifth-grade classroom was just begging for students to take their seats. Math and English text books sit in every cubby hole. A daily assignment notebook on top of each desk waits to be opened.
"Are you nervous? Are you excited? I am," Mrs. Goebel said to Chris Barton, 10, who will be in her class.
When Chris' dad, Marcus Barton, told Mrs. Goebel the family just moved to the area from Kansas, she described herself a little more.
"You'll like school here. I'm easy going. I'm not a mean teacher," she said. "I'm an old teacher. This is my 29th year."
Mrs. Goebel passed out a supply list and told the Barton family and others in the room all they needed to know: fees are $30, lunch costs $1.25 and the class will take an overnight trip to study conservation later in the year. They'll need parent volunteers for that.
Friends conspire
Outside in the hallways, friends dragged one another from class to class, figuring out when they would see one another during the school day. One little boy wanted to know what would be in his classroom. He told his mom he hoped there was a phone so he could call her when he got lonely.
And near the cafeteria two enterprising friends set up a make-shift information booth. Third-graders Leah Borkowski, 8, and Kris Nilsen, 8, sat on a window sill with homemade signs made of lined notebook paper and pencil.
They advertised: "Ask us for help. Please don't run."
Kris said so many people had questions that they figured they might as well offer answers.
"Our moms are working with the PTA, and we've been here so many days already," Leah said. "We know where stuff is."
Inside and out
Erpenbeck Elementary School, which sits on a hill off U.S. 42, is still surrounded by mounds of dusty dirt and construction equipment. Grass hasn't been planted and there's no playground.
But the parking lot is paved and light posts lie in the lot's corners, waiting to be installed.
The interior scene is much more complete.
Each hallway is painted a different color -- green, blue, yellow -- to identify the wings.
Classrooms are filled with desks, bright placards and colorful reminders of everything from the alphabet to good manners.
