Students across the D.C. metropolitan region are dusting off the ties and blazers this week as private schools open their gates for a new year.

One by one, the region’s independent schools are calling students back from vacation, a marked contrast from the nearly en-masse openings of area public schools within county systems. At the Potomac School in McLean,doors opened Thursday to about 900 students. Sidwell Friends, which has campuses in the District and Maryland, opens Sept. 11 for some 1,100 boys and girls.