Jim Thorpe Area School District was able to kick off the school year smoothly, even with an early start.

Superintendent Brian J. Gasper said that the first day was a "great start to the school year," even with the summer heat."The heat did not cause any negative effects on our start. We are grateful that our buildings are equipped with air conditioning," Gasper said.Thanks to advanced planning, student transportation was able to proceed efficiently."Prior to the school year, we sent a message to parents asking them to inform us of any transportation changes. I believe we were able to work out any issues prior to the first day. Our director of transportation had very positive reports," Gasper said.The only major change implemented this year will be a new technology program, Project OLE (Olympian One-to-One Learning Environment), which will provide a computer to each student in the district. This project is set to roll out in the next few weeks, and JTASD staff are looking forward to the start."Our teachers are absolutely excited for the device distribution. Of course, with any new initiative, there might be some small items that need to be adjusted, but overall, I believe our teachers are excited for the advanced technology offerings for this year. We also held parent information sessions and we are happy to announce that all of the conversations were positive and we believe our parents and students are also excited for this new endeavor," Gasper said.Overall, it appears that Thorpe's initial school year success lays with the district's spectacular team."We had a fantastic start to our 2016-2017 school year. Of course, we'd like to thank all of our administrators, teachers, staff, students, parents, bus drivers, cafeteria and custodial workers, local police and our community for a great start. We couldn't do it without the combined efforts of all involved," Gasper said.