Amityville first on LI for back to school

Amityville Thursday became the first Long Island public school district to kick off the 2011-12 school year, with 2,790 students streaming into classes and educators facing the warring challenges of budget constraints and needs of a growing student population.

As children entered Northwest Elementary School, interim principal Shirley Martin was there to greet each one and to console their parents, not all of whom were ready to let go.

"I'm going to miss her," said Theresa Gordon, just separated from her daughter, Tiara, 7, a new second-grader. The school steps were full of lingering parents; inside, at least one dad was videotaping."Sometimes," said Martin,diplomatically, "parents have separation anxiety. We try to calm them down."Thanks to Tropical Storm Irene, the district's schools started the week without power. Electricity wasn't restored until Tuesday at Edmund Miles Middle School, which houses the district's computer servers, officials said.

At Northwest, Martin said, teachers simply worked in the dark in their classrooms. Much of the work was already under way, she said, with teachers using time during the summer to familiarize themselves with new state standards in English and math, and a new data program to analyze student test scores.

"The teachers are excited," said Martin, plucked out of retirement to serve until a full-time replacement can be found. "I'm excited."

At the middle school, in its first year of restructuring triggered by lagging student test scores, a new principal, Michele Darby, met students with hugs and questions about summer vacation. As first period neared, the small talk turned to warnings about getting to class on time.The first two days will be spent learning schedules and rules, she said; by Tuesday, when the work of learning begins in earnest, "We'll be ready to roll."

Superintendent John Williams said the district faces "unique instructional challenges." About 70 percent of Amityville students receive free or reduced school lunches. Enrollment in the English as a second language program shot up 42 percent last year. Amityville has a higher portion of students with special education needs than any other district on the Island. And, he said, there were 28 fewer teachers on opening day this year than there were two years ago.

Facing budget pressure, the district eliminated its business program and folded its alternative high school program into the high school. The alternative program, designed for students who have difficulty in a conventional school environment, was flexible enough to let some of its students work part-time jobs during normal school hours, making up classtime elsewhere.

All this means that class size is edging up, he said, from about 24 or 25, to 26 or 27. "That's still not impossible or onerous," he said. But it does mean Amityville educators need to be judicious with what resources they have, and teachers will "have to work a little harder," he said. Along with its early start, the district has one of the longest school years on Long Island -- 187 days -- to give students more time to learn, Williams said.

Some students, of course, had qualms about the school year's start.

Tiara Gordon sounded a bit shaken, recounting her first ride on the school bus: "I looked to see if my mom was there, but she wasn't." Yes, her mother was waiting for her at school when the bus arrived, to make sure everything went OK this first day. "I still missed her a lot," Tiara said.