When 5-year-old Maggie Wujek stepped off bus No. 41 at Merrillville's Iddings Elementary School on Wednesday, her eyes lit up when she saw her mother and younger siblings waiting for her.

It was the first day of school for Maggie, who wanted to ride the bus like the other children rather than having her parents take her.

"I'm excited. I talked to somebody on the bus," Maggie said, speaking softly to her mother.

Maggie's mother, Kimberly, met her and walked with her to class.

Maggie will be in the half-day kindergarten program, Wujek said, adding that she would have preferred the full-day program but could not afford the $2,000 tuition.

Gerald Pointer Jr. will attend school all day, and his mother, Tiffany, said the $2,000 fee is cheaper than day care. She said school officials agreed to break payments into quarters to keep it manageable.

Though the buses were late because of construction north of 68th Avenue and Broadway, Iddings Principal Chris Foltz said the school year started well.

She expects more than 800 students in kindergarten through fourth grade, and the school is using "every available space."

At Hobart High School, students flooded the hallway when the bell rang, some asking for directions to a class.

Senior Katie Grennes is looking forward to the best year of her life.

Grennes is not disturbed by missing out on attending the new high school. That facility is only half complete, with the opening set for January 2009.

Grennes said she thinks it will be "kind of a privilege to be the last graduating class" in the old school building.