After two weeks off to celebrate Christmas and New Year’s, local students are returning to schools around the county.

Students in Troy City Schools returned to classrooms Thursday for a short two-day school week before getting back into the rhythm.

“We’re glad to have our students back and we’re looking forward to a great second semester,” said Dr. Lee Hicks, superintendent of Troy City Schools.” We have several things coming up including spring testing. We also have a lot of extracurricular activities going on in the spring. We’re just looking forward to a great semester and we’ll keep looking to see ways in which we can improve on a day-to-day basis.”

Students are returning to Pike County schools Monday, while faculty and staff returned Thursday to prepare for the semester.

“Everybody was energetic and revitalized; we’re ready for the second term,” said Dr. Mark Bazzell, superintendent of Pike County Schools. “We focused (Thursday) on some of our STEM initiatives with breakout sessions for faculty to participate on. We’ll be focusing quite a bit on STEM programs this semester.”

With students returning, school zones will again have traffic in the mornings and afternoons as students are picked up and dropped off.

“As people get back into their normal routine, remember to prepare for delays,” said Troy Police Chief Randall Barr. “We’ll be at our normal intersections that we work for school traffic to get people in and out as quickly as we can. Leave early so you’re in no hurry and don’t have to worry about delays. We do have a lot of kids that walk to and from school, so be mindful in these school zones for both pedestrian and vehicle traffic. And, of course, we always advise motorists if you don’t have to go through (school zones) to get to or from your residence, stay away during those peak traffic times if at all possible.”

Troy University students that left for winter break should also be returning soon if they haven’t already, with classes beginning Wednesday on campus.