Some of the buses ran late, especially in the afternoon.
At least one building had a plumbing problem.
And some students had to be seen by school nurses.
But, all in all, Jefferson City's Public Schools resumed classes Thursday without many problems.
"It's been a good day," spokeswoman Amy Berendzen said at East Elementary School Thursday morning.
"It was a great morning, watching families come in with their kiddos," she said, "and the kiddos were almost in a flat, dead sprint to get in that building. They were so excited."
Teachers had to caution children not to run as they left the building Thursday afternoon.
East School received a total renovation during the summer, and Principal Julie Martin said the first day of school went well.
"We've had a great start," she said. "Everybody who came for Open House was impressed with the hallways, and said they look so much bigger and wider and brighter.
"The colors that were picked just really brightened up the place."
Katherine Riley's daughter is a new East School kindergarten student.
She called the renovated building "neat."
"It's definitely different from when my son was here," she said. "It looks like the playground's been updated a little bit. On the surface as well, I think it's looking good."
New kindergarten student Hailey LeCuru mostly shrugged her shoulders when asked how her first day of school went.
But her mom said both were emotional about the day, both crying about the change in their lives.
Hailey's dad, Brian, agreed it's hard to see your only child go off to school, "especially when you know she's scared" about the new experience. But the teachers and staff have been supportive, he said.
Tirrell Jacobs' second-grade son went to Cedar Hill Elementary last year, but the family recently moved "down the street" from East. Jacobs expects his son to make some comparisons.
"Last year went pretty well," he said. "We'll see how this year goes."
The hallways look wider because chairs and desks placed there last year are gone - moved back into classrooms.
Although the crowded conditions weren't the reason for redoing the nearly 80 year-old school, the renovation work helped part of that situation, Martin said.
"There were a couple of classrooms - like our art room - which were really larger than we needed," she said, "so we were able to use some of that as flex-space for reading teachers and things like that.
"We have utilized the trailers for both classrooms."
But as long as East School and others in the district continue to grow, Martin said the space issue will continue.
East School has a more transient population than some of the district's 10 other elementary buildings, so Martin finds herself making adjustments, especially at the beginning of the year.
"This year, my fifth-grade class was, again, a small class," she explained, "so I consolidated those into two sections, and moved one of those (three) teachers into a fourth first-grade section - because I have about 85 first-graders."
Among the other physical changes, Riley hoped the district would get the new wooden handrails sanded and painted soon. District facilities chief Bob Weber said they're temporary, and should be replaced within two or three weeks.
"The permanent railings had to be fabricated (after) the concrete was poured," he explained. "It had to be measured and we ran a little bit behind getting the concrete in because of the (wet) weather" this summer.
Berendzen said the Jefferson City High School also "looked amazing. ... Never in the last 25 years did I feel the vibe - 25 years ago as a student - that I felt today. It was amazing."
Weber said the district had a number of renovations projects over the summer, including work at the high school and Nichols Career Center.
"We went down to the wire, and had crews working this past weekend and up through (Wednesday) night" to get all but some minor, touch-up work finished, he said.