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SCARSDALE, N.Y. – The hallways of Scarsdale schools were alive Wednesday and filled once more with the boisterous noise of excited students coming back for the first day after summer vacation.
At Greenacres Elementary School, Principal Gerry Young enjoyed one of the easiest opening days of his career. Greenacres has a lower enrollment than a year ago, and no new teachers were hired that needed to be transitioned to the district.
Young said that, although it was the first full day of the school year, the students were already hard at work.
“It was really smooth this year. There wasn’t a big transition for us,” he said. “I stopped in several classes and the kids were already doing good work. Our kids are very academic and energetic. You could tell they were well rested.”
After a long summer, many of the older students were eager to get back to classes and be with their peers. Kindergarteners had a quarter day of school Tuesday, and will have half days for the rest of the month as they work into a routine.
“The older kids get anxious to come back," Young said. "A lot of them are at sleep-away camps all summer and have only just gotten back, so they’re excited to see their buddies. We work our kindergarteners in slowly. "it’s a lot different here than nursery school. We’re much more focused on academics.”
Former kindergarten and current first-grade teacher Karen Pelekis said that the beginning of school can be tough for some of the younger kids, who tend to be more reserved in the early going.
“There’s something of a honeymoon period during the first week where the kids get used to us,” she said. “They’re typically a little more quiet because they need a little bit of time to adjust.”
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