Ronette Dill has been part of a first day of school every year since she entered first grade at T.C. Henderson Elementary School at age 6.
More than 50 first days later, Monday brought something new.
Dill, who retired from Polk County Schools in 2024 after 33 years of service, was back in the district, this time welcoming students to Sunny View Elementary as the school’s interim principal for the 2026-27 school year.
“There is something special about the beginning of a new school year,” Dill said. “It represents a fresh start, new opportunities and the possibility of making a meaningful difference in the lives of students. I still feel that sense of anticipation and excitement, and I am grateful for the opportunity to experience it once again.”
Dill has experienced that anticipation from just about every possible perspective.
For years, she was the person being welcomed, first as an elementary student, then through middle school, high school and college. After graduating from Mars Hill College, she moved to the other side of that first-day equation.
She welcomed first graders and middle school students as a teacher at Saluda Elementary. Beginning in 2005, she welcomed students, families and employees as Saluda’s principal. After moving to the district office in 2016, she helped welcome educators back to schools across Polk County.
Retirement didn’t end the streak. Dill has continued teaching mathematics courses at North Greenville University, adding new groups of college students to her first-day history.
But Monday put her back in a familiar setting and a familiar role.
“This year, my first day of school will be spent at Sunny View Elementary, welcoming PreK-5 students back to school, and I could not be more excited about the opportunity to do so,” she said before the opening bell.
For Dill, much of the appeal of that first morning comes after the cars and buses arrive and the building begins to fill.
There are the obvious signs of opening day – excited students, nervous students, teachers getting classrooms underway. But it is the smaller interactions that Dill watches most closely.
“I love watching teachers and other school employees welcome students, ease their first-day jitters, and begin building the relationships that will shape the school year,” she said. “Those seemingly simple moments – greeting a child by name, reassuring a nervous student, helping a family feel comfortable, or watching a teacher begin a new learning experience – are at the heart of what makes schools special.”
Those relationships also played a significant role in bringing Dill back to Polk County Schools.
Her first career with the district began in 1991 and eventually touched almost every level of the school system. She spent more than two decades at Saluda Elementary as a teacher and principal before joining the district office, first as director of curriculum and instruction and later as grants and community partnerships coordinator.
She retired in May 2024, intending to move into a different chapter.
So when the possibility of returning for one year at Sunny View arose, the answer was not immediately yes.
“When I was asked to return, I honestly considered declining the opportunity,” Dill said. “I had retired for a reason, and I was enjoying that new chapter of life.”
Then came a couple of restless nights.
After thinking through the opportunity, Dill found herself returning to something that had defined much of her first 33 years in Polk County Schools: the people.
“Over more than 30 years in education, I have had the privilege of building meaningful relationships with students, families, educators, and community members throughout the county,” she said. “Those relationships have had a lasting impact on me, and I wanted an opportunity to give back.”
That opportunity will look different from her previous principalship.
Dill last led a school a decade ago, leaving Saluda Elementary in 2016 to move into district leadership. She returns to the principal’s office with years of additional experience and a districtwide perspective she did not have the first time around.
But she also returns expecting to learn.
“I consider myself a lifelong learner, and one of the things I am most excited about is the opportunity to continue learning alongside the educators and students at Sunny View Elementary,” Dill said.
She is looking forward to seeing new programs and initiatives from a school-level perspective while working alongside a Sunny View staff she describes as passionate about children and committed to building a positive school community.
“I am returning with many years of experience, but I am also returning with an open mind and a desire to learn from the talented educators at Sunny View,” Dill said. “I am excited to combine experience with new learning in service of students.”
The assignment is scheduled to last one school year.
That gives Dill a finite amount of time in a place she ultimately came to believe she was supposed to be.
“I believe there is a special reason for me being at Sunny View this year,” she said.
And so Monday morning, more than half a century after a 6-year-old Dill walked into T.C. Henderson Elementary for her first first day, she walked into another Polk County school to begin again.
This time, she was there to welcome everyone else.
“My goal is to make a positive difference, even in one year,” Dill said, “and to leave Sunny View stronger because of the collective work we do together.”
