As faculty and staff from Suffolk Public Schools filled the gymnasium at King’s Fork High School on Tuesday, even the most casual observer could not have missed the sense of excitement that filled the air. The first day of school was just a week away, and teachers, administrators, aides, administrative workers, cafeteria staff and maintenance employees are all geared up and girded up for the onslaught of students through the doors of Suffolk’s public schools.

It’s a new school year with new challenges and opportunities — and that’s true for teachers and staff as much as it is for students.

The students are the reason for all the hard work, but Suffolk’s school administration made sure the teachers and staff attending the annual convocation ceremony understood just how important they are to the whole process.

“I say to those of you who are new, ‘Hold on; it’s going to be the ride of your life,’” Superintendent Deran Whitney said during the program. Whitney concluded his remarks with the remarkable surprise of leading a flash mob of faculty and staff members dancing to the popular Mark Ronson song, “Uptown Funk.”

It was a bit of concentrated silliness in pursuit of showing one important thing: Those who work in Suffolk’s public education system aren’t moaning about the end of summer. Instead, the vast majority of them are excited about the beginning of the school year, ready to do what they can to open new windows of knowledge and perception for their students this year.

If the school year is half as good as Whitney’s “Uptown Funk” groove, Suffolk students are in for a treat.