Today marks the start of a new school year for nearly 1.5 million public school students in North Carolina, but it is especially significant for thousands of children who will be walking into newly built schools for the first time.

A number of new area campuses open today, including two Charlotte-Mecklenburg suburban high schools - Rocky River in Mint Hill; and Hough (say Huff) in Cornelius.

The new schools provide a welcome counterpoint to the problems facing many school systems, from budget cuts and teacher layoffs, to new fees for participating in band and sports and taking some tests.

In contrast, the new schools offer promise. Rocky River and Hough highs, like their newly built counterparts elsewhere in the region, feature state-of-the-art technology, new textbooks, and a clean, fresh look.

Don't fool yourself. It took a lot of behind-the-scenes work, most of it during summer vacation, to get these schools ready.

Here's some of what took place before Rocky River opened its doors.

It's where?

Welcome to CMS's Area 51. You know Rocky River High is there, because you can see it from Interstate 485. But actually finding the place is challenging.

Barbara Crawford, a secretary in the school's front office, has given directions dozens of times in recent days.

"Sweetie, you went too far on 485," she said Monday afternoon to a caller. "You get off at Exit 43."

Have you given those directions often? "More times than I can count," she said.

The school is on a 62-acre campus that seems distant from civilization. Counselors tell the story of a student who arrived recently with her mother to enroll. Tears formed in the student's eyes.

"This is horrible," the girl told her mother. "I'm used to cutting classes. But out here, there's nowhere to go."

For the record, you can reach the school off N.C. 51, via Allen Station Road and Clear Creek Commerce Drive. Principal Mark Nixon says a new entrance, off Albemarle Road near I-485, will be built soon.

And the campus is an environmental dream - mostly wooded and rolling.

The Rocky River whats?

They're the Ravens, and the nickname was picked by a community group. The school name itself was selected by the school board, based on community comments. Rocky River Church Road is nearby.

The school colors and fight song are a different story.

Nixon, a native of northeastern Ohio, is hopelessly hooked on the Cleveland Indians and Browns. The school colors are brown and orange - the Browns' colors.

"And when it was time to pick a fight song, I realized that no other school in our conference uses the Ohio State song," Nixon said. So Rocky River touchdowns will be followed by a chorus of "Fight the Team Across the Field," Ohio State's song.

Where are the books?

A new school means new books, and Rocky River's teachers spent much of this week opening crates, putting serial numbers on the books, and stacking them on carts for distribution to classrooms.

"Welcome to the manual labor side of teaching," said Rex Mangiaracina, as he stacked "Civics Today" textbooks.

"It's a lot of work, but these books are all new," added fellow social studies teacher Deborah Williams.

Over in the science wing, chemistry teacher Shawn Schmitt showed a visitor the advanced electricity, computer and water hookups in his lab.

"It wasn't set up exactly the way we wanted it, so we made some changes," Schmitt said. "But it's nice to be part of building something like this."

Meanwhile, Carol Parrish, who will teach apparel and interior design, had a problem. She found all the sewing machines for her classroom, after several had been misplaced for a few days in a warehouse. But she was missing six boxes of thread.

"We can't do much without thread," Parrish said. "But it will turn up."

Many become one

Nancy Deedrick, food service manager, is ready for today. Lunch will feature cheese dippers, sliced turkey and rice, pepperoni pizza, chef salad, green beans and sweet potatoes. After 17 years at an elementary school (Matthews), she is making the leap to high school.

"I'm really looking forward to it," she said. "We have all new people, all new equipment."

Nixon said he tried to hire staff members from across the area.

"We had some from the north, some from the west, some from the south, some from the east," he said. "We wanted a whole new identity. When people come together from different places, it's easier to develop a sense of ownership. This becomes our school."

Kina Rankin, a 10th-grader, went to Independence High last year. Now she's on the junior varsity cheerleading squad at Rocky River, awaiting the school's first football game, Friday night at home against Hough.

"We're coming together as a unit on the cheerleading squad," she said. "We're making new friends. That's how it will be for the whole school. We won't know everyone else, but we'll get to know them.

"In no time at all, we'll all be Rocky River High students."