Roslyn, Longwood schools open their doors

Marc Perlman, 14 and a freshman at Roslyn High School, walked into his first-period gym class and didn't know anyone. He took a deep breath.

"Then one of my friends walked in and I was like, 'Yes!' " Perlman said, sitting with his peers in his school's sparkling new cafeteria.

Perlman was one of hundreds of nervous freshmen walking the hallways searching for their next class or pulling up a chair in the cafeteria as the Roslyn district opened its doors Friday to its 3,400 students, ahead of most other public schools on the Island. The 9,300-student Longwood district, based in Middle Island, got an early start Friday, too.

Andrew Katz, also 14 and a Roslyn freshman, said it was a little intimidating walking the hallways with upperclassmen, but he felt more at ease by the middle of the day.

"One day, we'll be the seniors," he said.

Katz didn't get lost once -- at least before noon.

He said he and his classmates had an opportunity to walk the building before school started so he was less worried about directions than about his advanced geometry class.

"You have to write a research paper for it," he said.

Esther Yun, 14 and a sophomore, sat among her friends and talked about their first foray into a college-level Advanced Placement class. They're starting with AP European History.

Yun said she's heard some students drop out of the course because it's so hard. She's hoping to stick with it.

"I want to push myself to my limits," she said.

Class president Daniel Pollack, 17 and a senior, said he's anxious to get on with the school year, adding that he'll miss the place when he graduates.

"We have a really warm and welcoming community here," he said.

Only Amityville, with its Thursday opening, had an earlier start. Most children in the rest of the Island's 124 public school districts will start Tuesday or Wednesday.

Renee Miller, 31, of Coram, said she didn't mind classes in the Longwood district starting early because it gives her daughter, Isabella, 5, a jump on meeting her teacher and classmates at Coram Elementary School.

Miller, however, had a difficult time letting go; Isabella is the younger of her two children.

"It's very difficult but she's ready," the girl's mother said. "If I left it up to me, I would keep her home all the time."

Jaimie Mancini, 31, of Coram, said her son, Logan, 5, was ready for school to start.

"He was excited," his mother said. "I don't know if I was."

Longwood High School freshman Taylor Boyle, 14, said it was "a little weird" to go to school Friday and then not return until Tuesday. "You go for one day and then off for three days -- you are going to forget everything," she said.