COLUMBUS (WCMH) – The first day of school for Columbus City Schools began dark and early Wednesday at the bus garage.

Superintendent Dr. Dan Good joined more than 350 bus drivers at the Frebis Avenue bus garage, the largest of the district’s three garages, as drivers readied their buses for their morning routes.

About 52,000 students returned to class at Columbus City Schools on Wednesday. Approximately 36,000 or 37,000 of them and another 10,000 or so students who don’t attend CCS ride more than 800 buses to school each day.

Dr. Good said drivers must maintain their commercial driver’s licenses and complete Ohio bus driver training.

“In addition to that, we have the buses and the buses are refreshed every year. [They are] cleaned, obviously, the mechanics work on them and they have to be re-certified through the Ohio Highway Patrol,” Good said.

Good encouraged parents to walk their children to the bus stop for the first few days of school to make sure they get on the bus safely.

“We have new people registering all the time to go to school and so we have to adjust the routes the first couple of weeks,” Good said.

For the very youngest students, parents are also expected to meet their children at the bus stop in the afternoon.

As the day began, students at South High School were welcomed into the building with a “clap-in” and cheers from Superintendent Good and staff at the school.

Nearby, at the district’s food production center on East Fulton Street, food service director Joe Brown said workers have been preparing all summer for the beginning of the school year, in addition to serving summer meals.

Each day during the school year, about 25 workers prepare 40,000 meals (breakfast and lunch), for a total of about seven million meals each year. Those meals are shipped the following day to 71 elementary schools in the CCS district and then served to students the following day.

This year, CCCS is continuing a push to source more of the food it serves from Ohio. That includes three million apples served each year in the district. This year, every apple will be from Ohio, instead of Washington State.

“Food that is fresher is healthier, retains more of the nutrients. It’s better for our students,” Brown said.

It’s also a chance for students to learn where their food comes from and for the district to be environmentally friendly.

Now that school is back in session, the district is also reminding everyone to drive more slowly through school zones as some students walk to school each day.