Except for one bus breaking down and another briefly sliding into a ditch, the school year started off smoothly for the Currituck County Schools on Monday.

"We had one bus break down en route to school, but students were transferred to another bus and arrived at school on time," said Sandy Kinzel, assistant superintendent for the Currituck school district.

No one was injured in the afternoon mishap, which involved a bus slipping off the side of the road into a ditch, Kinzel said. Because the bus wasn't damaged, it was able to complete its route without a major delay, she said.

Currituck saw 3,968 students show up for classes on the first day of school. That's actually less than the 4,066 school officials expected, Kinzel said.

Officials are expecting enrollment to soon rise to within 2 percent of the projected figure, which has to happen for the school district to qualify for the state appropriation it is expecting. The number Currituck needs to reach is at least 3, 985, Kinzel said.

"We expect that we will see a few more (students) show up over the next ten days," she said. "Historically, that's what always happens."

The Currituck schools weren't the only area school district that encountered some busing snafus on Monday.

The Perquimans County Schools encountered a few problems with its bus schedule, according to Brenda Lassiter, the district's public information officer.

"The first day of school went fine with the exception of consolidated bus transportation issues," she said.

The problem arose because a number of new students did not register to attend school until Monday. As a result, those students had not been included on the district's transportation schedule.

Cooperative parents, extended hours by school officials and constant communication through the district's ConnectEd system helped provide relief for parents whose children were affected, Lassiter said.

"We were able to call directly to the bus to verify every student was on aboard and to determine an estimated time those students would be home for buses that were running up to an hour late," she said.

Enrollment numbers were holding steady in Perquimans, according to Lassiter.

"We began today with 1,773 students," she said. That's just 11 students below the school's 1,784 projected enrollment.

Camden Schools Superintendent Ron Melchiorre said he was pleased with how well the first day of school went in his district.

"It was a very smooth opening today at all five schools," he said.

Paula Mickey. personnel/community schools director for the Camden County Schools, said school officials were also happy with attendance figures, even though the 1, 858 students who showed up the first day were less than the 1,900 expected.

Like Kinzel, school officials in Camden anticipate enrollment will pick up over the next ten days, especially after Labor Day, Mickey said.

Kerri Albertson, school/community relations director for the Edenton-Chowan Schools, said everything went smoothly on the district's first day of school. In addition, enrollment numbers were on target, she said.

"Projected enrollment for the Edenton-Chowan Schools this year was 2,398.

Our estimates were very close to the number of students who showed up," Albertson said.