VIDALIA, La. &045; It only took a few hours of third-grade for Chandler Johnese to nail down a decision he’s been contemplating.

&uot;I think I’m going to go to college and I’m never coming back,&uot; the 7-year-old said during lunch. &uot;They have a short recess here.&uot;

When the recess length at Vidalia Upper Elementary failed to meet Johnese’s expectations, he was forced to thoughts of higher education.

&uot;My mom said they do (have recess) in college,&uot; he said. &uot;She wants me to go to college.&uot;

Plus, third-grade was going to be too easy, he said.

So far, his classmates agreed.

&uot;The first thing we learned today was how to act,&uot; Erick Burton said. &uot;And the first think I liked about third-grade was you get to do work and work is fun. You get to read.&uot;

And the cafeteria pizza was better than at the Lower, Hunter Colton said.

Fifth-graders Brian Walden and Tony Cox were excited about what they heard in science class.

&uot;In the science lab we talked about what we are going to do later, like dissect frogs,&uot; Cox said.

Things were going pretty smoothly at VUES by lunch Principal Darla Johnston said.

At Vidalia Lower it was the monkey bars on the playground that garnered the most attention from pre-kindergarten and kindergartners. For Kimmie Cowart and Angel Kinney, the first day was a reunion of sorts.

&uot;We met at school, in pre-K,&uot; Kinney said after discovering that her friend shared her recess time.

First-grader Michael White said his day had gone well.

&uot;I got to school, did some of my work and did some more work,&uot; he said. &uot;That’s about it.&uot;

All parish schools started Thursday. Kindergartners at the lower elementary schools were divided into two groups, some starting Thursday, the rest today.