Queens youngsters traded in their surfboards and swimsuits for backpacks and school uniforms as students said goodbye to summer and hello to their first day of school.
More than 1 million city public school students started school on Wednesday, September 9, but kids at P.S. 111 in Long Island City had a few special visitors to greet them at the schoolyard on their first day – Mayor Michael Bloomberg and School’s Chancellor Joel Klein.
“I’m going to learn letters and numbers and to read,” said Johan Congrains, 5, who was very excited to start his first day of Kindergarten at P.S. 111.
After greeting parents and kids outside the school building with some high-fives and words of encouragement, Bloomberg went inside and school Principal Randy Seabrook told the students gathered in the auditorium that she had some special guests with her today.
“They are here because they recognize the tremendous job you did in raising your scores in ELA (English Language Arts) and math last year,” Seabrook said.
Bloomberg asked the kids what year they thought he finished the sixth grade. The first student said 1980, to which the Mayor responded, “In my dreams.” However, one of the next answers was a little further back in time – 1801 – sparking lot of laughs.
“You’re all going to learn a lot, and you’re going to have some fun too – build some new friendships and learn how to work together,” Bloomberg said. “And, I can just tell you, all of us up here wish we were back in elementary school.”
On Wednesday morning, the city opened 23 new or additions to school buildings with eight of them being in Queens. The 23 new schools will provide 13,000 more seats for students this year, and the past two years has represented the most new seats for students since the School Construction Authority was created in 1988.
In Astoria, students got their first glimpse of one of the new buildings – the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts High School – located at 35-12 35th Avenue.
“It’s a gorgeous building,” said Georgia Linaris, a ninth grader from Fresh Meadows who was starting her first day at Frank Sinatra. “It’s something totally different from my elementary and junior high school.”
Entertainer Tony Bennett first came up with the idea for the school to pay tribute to his late friend and colleague Frank Sinatra, and the school has a rigorous academic curriculum and pre-conservatory studio education with different arts specializations. The school opened in 2001, but was housed at a temporary location in Long Island City until construction on the new, state-of-the-art facility for nearly 1,000 students in grades 9-12 was completed this year.
“It’s exciting; the building is just amazing,” said Sofia Apostolidis, Assistant Principal of Instruction, who described the students’ eyes lighting up when they entered. “I think it’s thrilling. We’re all looking forward to this new year.”
Meanwhile, back at P.S. 111, students and parents were excited about the first day of school and seeing Bloomberg.
“I was a little bit nervous because I saw all the cameras,” said Jahmere Wilson, 8, who was about to start third grade and was excited for gym class.
While Bloomberg talked about always having room to improve at city schools, he spoke glowingly about the progress the city has made.
“This school system is doing something that has become the role model for the country,” Bloomberg said. “We have taken, which, in all fairness, was a very good school system for a big city school system, and made it so much better.”
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– With additional reporting by Jessica Lyons
