Wake Up, Rochester: School Starts Today!

Goodbye, summer.

Hello, school lunches, homework and alarm clocks.

Today begins nine and a half months of learning for Rochester Community Schools students. For the past month, we've been giving out tips, tricks and need-to-know information, all gathered together in our Back to School page.

Here are the most important things to know right now:

The weather. The National Weather Service predicts a true "fall" day for the first day of school today: a high of 68 and a low of 53. It might be wise to throw a hoodie in the backpack.

The calendar. We gave you the key dates in our sneak peek at the . This week, your student will bring home a glossy-covered master calendar that will include specific dates for your schools — curriculum nights, honors programs, PTA meetings. The take-home calendar will also include, for the first time, an "instructional pathways" section designed to outline assessments and curriculum expectations, year-by-year.

What's new. To start, there's a new superintendent. His name is Fred Clarke and that previewed several changes in the district. We also talked to some of the new administrators, including and . Others will be profiled this week.

For lunch. There are no changes in the price of lunches this year. Here's where you can . (And if you're packing lunch, our blogger swears by her daughter's thermos.)

Where are the school buses going? If you see them around town during the lunch hour, it's because grades K-5 have only a half day today. The real fun starts Wednesday, when it's a full day of school for all grades.

Rochester Patch invites you to share your first-day-of-school photos with readers. Upload them here or send them to editor Kristin Bull at kristin.bull@patch.com