When Olathe South Opened Its Doors: The First Day of School in 1981–45 Years Ago Today.

Imagine walking into Olathe South High School and realizing that nobody had ever had a first day there before.

No graduating class had crossed its stage. No championship banner hung in the gym. There were no generations of students who could tell the freshmen which staircase to take, which hallway was fastest or where everyone gathered between classes.

On Monday, Aug. 31, 1981, every student walking through the doors of Olathe South was helping create those traditions for the first time.

And judging from the next morning’s Daily News of Johnson County, there was a real sense around the building that something special was happening. The newspaper put Olathe South’s opening on its front page, underneath a large photograph of Principal Dave Jones sitting almost alone in the new gym, going over his notes before speaking to students.

A brand-new school — right down to the chairs

Olathe South was a substantial addition to a school district that was growing rapidly. The new school at 151st Street and Lindenwood Drive contained about 176,000 square feet, and its first-day enrollment was reported at 571 students.

Everything still had that unmistakable new-school feeling.

Teachers had turned what the newspaper described as rather plain, windowless rooms into classrooms with colorful posters and bulletin boards. Students were still figuring out the halls, lockers and quickest routes between classes.

Even the furniture was new enough to become a joke.

Someone had written a message across a classroom chalkboard calling attention to the new school chairs, and the newspaper photographer made sure to capture it for posterity. Nearby, a student wearing a REO Speedwagon shirt waited for an assembly — a wonderfully unmistakable reminder that this was, indeed, 1981.

Before there were traditions, someone had to start them

English teacher Margaret Zimmerman told the newspaper there was an “aura of excitement” throughout the building.

Students seemed to feel it too.

Senior Tony Adams liked how easy the building was to navigate. Junior Paul Cunningham, getting around on crutches, particularly appreciated that the new school didn’t have as many stairs.

Senior Robin Spindle gave perhaps the simplest review possible:

“I love it.”

But there was something else happening that day that is easy to overlook 45 years later.

These students weren’t simply attending Olathe South.

They were inventing Olathe South.

The school’s colors and mascot had only recently been selected. Principal Jones and his staff had been working since the previous spring to create a sense of identity among teenagers who previously expected to attend other schools.

Senior Sanford Robinson told the newspaper he could already feel a sense of unity.

Senior Richard Nichols said students were trying to learn their way around, but added that everyone was going through it together.

That’s a pretty remarkable description of a school’s first day: nobody was the new kid, because everybody was new.

And, naturally, everything wasn’t quite finished

The school might have been ready for students.

The neighborhood around it apparently wasn’t.

One of the great details on that 1981 front page is the large photograph at the bottom showing Olathe students walking alongside busy 151st Street because there were no sidewalks for them to use.

The pavement was wet, cars and a school bus were passing nearby, and a line of students was making its way along the edge of the roadway.

Alongside the picture was another story with the wonderful headline:

“Sidewalks hit a snag.”

City officials were trying to get sidewalks installed near the new Olathe South and Indian Trail Junior High, but right-of-way problems had delayed part of the project.

So Olathe South’s first students had a beautiful new high school waiting for them — they just didn’t necessarily have a sidewalk to get there.

Olathe itself was changing quickly

The opening also came during a remarkable period of growth for Olathe schools.

District enrollment on that first day of the 1981-82 school year reached 8,701 students, up 7.9% in just one year.

Olathe North had 967 students that day.

The brand-new Olathe South had 571.

Those numbers offer some perspective on how dramatically Olathe has changed since then. What was once a new school sitting toward the growing southern edge of town eventually became surrounded by neighborhoods, businesses and generations of students who would make the building their own.

And that’s what makes the newspaper from Sept. 1, 1981 so much fun to look at today.

We know everything that came afterward.

Those teenagers didn’t.

For them, Olathe South had no “old days.” No famous games to remember. No favorite retired teachers. No alumni stories. No reunions. No parents telling their children, “I went here too.”

There was simply a new building, new lockers, new chairs, a new mascot, 571 students trying to find their classrooms — and Principal Dave Jones sitting in a nearly empty gym preparing to welcome them.

It was Day One.

And nearly 45 years later, we’re looking at the people who started Olathe South’s story.