Dust off the backpacks and bring out the lunchboxes. It’s back to school time for Suffolk Public School students.

On Tuesday, students will be kicking off the 2009-2010 school year.

“We are very excited about this year, as we are at the start of each year,” said Deran Whitney, deputy superintendent for Suffolk Public Schools.

“We will continue to focus on teaching responsively, raising student achievement and closing academic gaps. Our instructional staff have already actively been involved with in-services on differentiating instruction, active learning and other best practices. We are ready!”

This year, 14,434 students are registered to begin school, although Suffolk Public Schools’ Public Information Officer Bethanne Bradshaw said administrators expect to register more on the first day of school. Even without the late registrants, the school system has seen a slight increase in the number of students registered compared to September of last year.

Also starting school on Tuesday will be the 1,061 teachers employed by Suffolk Public Schools and an additional 1,133 faculty and staff members.

Parents of rising sixth-graders are reminded to bring verification that their child has received the TDap vaccination before coming to school on Tuesday. Bradshaw said the middle schools have received notification from a little more than 80 percent of the sixth-graders. Students will not be able to go to school if they have not turned in the notification form.