🗞️ 48,000 students head back to a changed Forsyth schools district on Monday

🗞️ Daimler Truck may build a Carolinas plant with thousands of jobs

🗞️ Tonight: Music at the Park in Oak Ridge

🗞️ A thank-you to the teachers, staff and bus drivers as school starts

🗞️ An ode to the last lazy weekend of summer

⛅ Warm, a stray storm | High: 88°F | Low: 72°F

A typical August weekend. Partly sunny and warm, with a stray afternoon or evening thunderstorm possible, rain chance around 30%. It will not be a washout, so your outdoor plans are a go, just keep half an eye on the radar and have a plan B if you hear thunder.

Backpacks are packed and alarm clocks are getting set: about 48,000 students return to Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools on Monday, and this year comes with more change than most.

The most obvious shift is at the top. Superintendent Don Phipps announced this week he will leave on September 30 to help care for his elderly mother, and the board will start the search for an interim leader on Tuesday. Big change is coming to the board itself, too: at least six of the nine seats will turn over in December after November's election. Phipps, for his part, says he plans to spend his last first-day-of-school riding a school bus and visiting campuses.

The district also enters the year leaner. Since the depth of last year's financial crisis came to light, about 950 full-time positions have been eliminated, and the year will open with roughly 200 vacancies, including 125 teacher openings and 42 fewer bus drivers than needed. The upside of all that painful budgeting: the district starts the year debt-free and on a balanced budget, with tighter financial controls in place.

A few practical notes for families. Because drivers are still learning their routes, transportation officials ask that students be at their stops 10 minutes early on Monday, and to expect some delays the first few weeks. There are new rules, too: metal drink containers are banned for safety reasons, so students should bring clear plastic bottles, and daily security screening continues at middle and high schools. A couple of campuses are changing as well, with Cook Elementary closing and a new Brunson Elementary rising on Patterson Avenue. Deep breath, everyone, here we go.

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Some potentially big economic news for our corner of the state.

Daimler Truck North America says it is scouting locations for a new plant that could bring "thousands of jobs over time," and the Triad and the Carolinas are considered strong contenders. The company already has deep roots here: its Thomas Built Buses unit, one of the country's leading school-bus makers, is based in High Point with operations in Randolph County, and Daimler runs truck and parts plants in Cleveland, Mount Holly, Gastonia and Gaffney, S.C.

Site-selection experts think our region has a real shot. Several pointed to the Liberty megasite in Randolph County, already home to a massive Toyota battery plant, as a natural fit thanks to its supplier network, skilled workforce and location near I-85 and I-40. Others named Guilford, Gaston and Rowan counties as possibilities. "I still think the two states are the favorites," said N.C. State economist emeritus Michael Walden.

Nothing is decided yet. Daimler says it is evaluating multiple sites, with construction expected to begin in late 2026 and production starting around 2029. If it lands nearby, it would join a growing list of advanced-manufacturing employers in the Triad, from JetZero to Boom Supersonic to Siemens. We will be watching to see where it lands.

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Looking for something easy and fun to do this evening? Head just up the road.

The Town of Oak Ridge hosts Music at the Park tonight from 6 to 9 p.m. at the amphitheater in Oak Ridge Town Park, 6231 Lisa Drive. The band Radio Revolver takes the stage with a genre-hopping set that runs from pop and classic rock to country and dance favorites, so there is a little something for everyone. Food, dessert and drink vendors will be set up, and a Beverage Garden sponsored by Stonefield Cellars Winery and Wise Man Brewery opens at 5:30 p.m.

Bring a blanket or a couple of camp chairs, leave the outside alcohol at home, and settle in for a relaxed summer night of live music under the open sky. It is a lovely way to cap off the weekend before the school-year routine kicks back in.

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Before the first bell rings on Monday, we want to say something simple: thank you.

Thank you to the teachers who spent part of their summer in empty classrooms, arranging desks and hanging bulletin boards on their own dime, getting ready for a room full of kids they have not even met yet. Thank you to the ones who will learn 25 new names by Friday, notice the child who seems a little lost, and somehow make every single one of them feel like the class would not be the same without them. After a hard year in our district, with hundreds of positions cut and plenty left to do, they are showing up anyway. That is not nothing. That is everything.

And thank you to all the people who make a school run who never get a shout-out. The bus drivers up before dawn, learning their routes and getting precious cargo to the door safely, even while the district is short dozens of drivers. The front-office staff who become the calm voice on a first-day phone call. The custodians, the cafeteria crew who know which kid needs an extra roll, the assistant principals covering three jobs at once, the aides and counselors and coaches. They hold the whole thing together, usually without applause.

So here is our small ask for the week ahead. Wave at the bus driver. Send the teacher a two-line email that says thank you, no problem attached. Pack a little extra patience for the drop-off line. These folks pour themselves into our kids all year long. The least we can do is start the year by letting them know we see it, and we are grateful.

There is a particular kind of quiet to this weekend, the last one before the alarm clocks and the carpool lines take over again.

You can feel summer starting to loosen its grip. The light comes a little slower in the morning and leaves a little earlier at night. The tomatoes are still coming in, the cicadas are still putting on their evening show, and the pool still has a few good weekends left in it. But everyone knows, deep down, that the season is about to change gears. Monday morning, the whole rhythm of the house resets.

So maybe let this one be slow on purpose. Sleep in past the point of guilt. Make the big breakfast. Let the kids stay in their pajamas until lunch and then send them outside to catch fireflies until the streetlights come on. Sit on the porch a little longer than you need to. Say yes to the ice cream. None of it will feel remarkable in the moment, and that is exactly the point, these are the ordinary days that somehow turn out to be the ones we miss.

Come Monday we will all be back to packed lunches and spelling words and the beautiful chaos of a new school year. That is a good thing, and we are ready for it. But there is no rush to get there. For one more weekend, the days are long and yours to waste. Enjoy every last unhurried minute of it, Kernersville.