Teachers with clipboards attempt to organize the horde of small people as they descend from school buses with their backpacks on their shoulders and lunchboxes in their hands.

Parents hover around with cameras around their necks as they lob well wishes into a sea of people, hoping their words of encouragement reach the attended target.

The younger kids often look confused and scared while the older ones, the ones who have been through this process before, just look apathetic.

The first day of school can be hectic.

On Thursday, Red Bank's public schools welcomed students back to school for the start of the 2012-13 school year. Children as young as three and four years old - the district's preschoolers - to borough eighth graders headed back to the primary and middle schools to start learning things once again.

Superintendent Laura Morana welcomed students back at Red Bank Middle School before heading over to Red Bank Primary School and then later accompanying preschoolers to their new classrooms at Red Bank Regional High School.

"There is always a great deal of excitement heading into a new school year," she said, helping direct a pair of kindergartners to their new classroom. "The children have acclimated themselves very well."