The Panther Valley School District’s Class of 2038 continues to grow, as does enrollment in every school as the new school year is set to begin Monday, administrators reported Wednesday.

Elementary Principal Dr. Paula Jones said the Class of 2038, or this year’s kindergarten class, is at 140, and they’re still registering students.

Registration is continuing in the intermediate school, which has 518 students enrolled and 483 students in the building in grades three to six, Principal Lisa Mace told school directors.

‘We’re still enrolling students,” she said. “We have five piles today alone, so they’re still coming.”

The same is true at the junior-senior high school, Principal Patricia Ebbert said, but they’re ready for the new year.

“We’re ready,” she said. “We missed our teachers. We missed our students. We’re looking forward to seeing them. It was great seeing them at Meet the Panthers, but we want to see them back in the halls again.”

Administrators also thanked the maintenance staff for their hard work over the summer to get the buildings ready.

Maintenance Supervisor Scott Fisher said most of the projects are done, and they’re now finishing up with the intermediate school.

“But we’re going to be ready,” he told the board. “We’ll be in good shape.”

In addition to refreshed buildings, students can look forward to tasting new foods and flavors in their cafeterias, said Marcos Cortes, food service director for The Nutrition Group.

Parents will be able to sample some of the foods served by the culinary staff at the open houses today, Cortes said. They plan to do special events, such as Farm to Fork, featuring produce from area farms; and Nutrition for Life and Nutrition Expedition, he said.

“Nutrition expedition is for the elementary where we’re going to be showcasing recipes from the around the world,” Cortes said. “These recipes could be from Italy, India, the Caribbean, China.”

Board President Daniel Matika thanked Cortes for the great job that he and his staff does.

“I think you took the cafeteria at PV to the next level,” he said.

Superintendent Dave McAndrew also thanked Cortes for the meals prepared for teachers and staff, as they came back for In-service training this week, as well as a successful summer feeding program in the community.

The food service staff prepared, packaged and delivered breakfasts and lunches for all children to multiple pickup locations in the district throughout the summer.