If there seems to be a few more school buses on the roads and a few less kids at the local park, it’s because most of the more than 6,400 students in the Middletown City School District start back to school today.

Students in grades kindergarten through 9 begin their school year today. High school students in grades 10-12 start Wednesday.

Madison Local Schools and Fenwick students begin school on Wednesday. Franklin, Carlisle, Monroe and Middletown Christian will all start next week.

As the kids return to school, the Marvin Lewis Community Fund is heading to the Middletown City Schools district for the very first time.

Through the group’s “Learning is Cool” program, members of the Cincinnati Bengals will help encourage Middletown students to get on their school honor roll.

This is the first year that the Marvin Lewis Community Fund has ventured its “Learning is Cool” program outside of the Cincinnati-Covington area, and its the fifth year for the program over all.

“The program has been very successful in the Cincinnati Public Schools. The kids really seem to respond to the players and the incentive awards we offer,” said Barbara Dundee, executive director of the Marvin Lewis Community Fund. “For all Middletown students in grades 1 through 8 who make the honor roll twice during the school year, they’ll be involved in an academic achievement celebration, which will be a private event with the players at the Cincinnati Zoo.”

Bengals players will visit the students during the school year to offer their encouragement.

Middletown businessman Stephen Hightower of Hightowers Petroleum Co. and the Hi-Mark Construction Group was instrumental in bringing the “Learning is Cool” program to Middletown.

“I’ve worked with the Marvin Lewis Foundation for several years and I’ve seen what a positive it has been for the Cincinnati community,” Hightower said.

The foundation has secured business sponsorship for the Middletown program through 2013 from several Middletown-area businesses and anonymous donors, Dundee said.

Eight schools in the Middletown district hosted open house events on Monday. Second-year principal Dawn Crook said the “Learning is Cool” program was just one of the new items her staff discussed with parents at Mayfield Elementary.

“We’re all adapting to the state’s Common Core Curriculum standards, we’ve made changes to our lunch room menus, where the students will have more healthy options in which to choose, and the parents were told about new bright purple communications folders they can expect to see in their kids’ backpacks,” Crook said. “It can sometimes get pretty scary looking around in their kids’ backpacks for information. Now they’ll know they can find it in the purple folder.”

Crook said her staffers told the parents about the district’s change from a PTO to a PTA structure, they recognized students who scored well in the recent Ohio Achievement Aptitude tests and continued to emphasize Middie Pride.

“It’s exciting. We feel like we’re building momentum here. Now we want to keep working smarter, not harder. Everybody is excited for the new school year. We’re just excited to get rolling.”