And they’re off! With tears and smiles and sleepy heads and new shoes, a projected 103,000 students returned to school this morning in Pinellas County. To help launch the occasion, superintendent John Stewart taped a message for school employees. See the video here.

Pinellas teachers and other employees open a second school year without a fully negotiated contract for their salaries or benefits. Marshall Ogletree, executive director of the Pinellas Classroom Teachers Association, sounded hopeful this morning that that could change this week.