Woonsocket ushers in new school year
Smiles are the style on the first day of school at Bernon Heights Elementary
WOONSOCKET – The weather didn’t exactly cooperate with a light rain falling early in the morning and as usual the opening of school the in city came with a few adjustments of schedules and help in getting students to their proper classes.
But as School Superintendent Patrick McGee observed during the Bernon Heights Elementary opening on Wednesday the district’s students appeared ready to get back to work.
“There is a lot of excitement and energy,” McGee said after also having stopped in at the opening of the Woonsocket Middle schools.
“There are a lot of smiles in the schools and the staff is very excited about the start of this school year,” he said.
At Bernon, the weather prompted the school’s new principal, Rob Desrosiers, to move the assembly of classrooms from the playing field to the driveway in front of the school entrance and everything seemed to move quickly as parents dropped off their children with their teachers and watched the classes file into the building.
The school’s music teacher, Gordon Davigneau, served as a traffic cop of sorts while directing arriving families to walk in a safety lane marked on the pavement. Other members of the school staff were on-hand to answer parents’ questions about their children’s classroom assignments and help them find the queues marked with their classroom number.
Tammy Lamberto Roy, a former special education teacher at Globe Park Elementary, was among the parents dropping off their children with the school’s staff.
Lamberto, the city’s Mardi Gras Queen for 2016 and a cancer survivor who retired in December after 19 years with the district, was able to spend the morning with her daughter, Mia, as she settled into the second grade.
“This is my first official school opening off,” Lamberto Roy noted. “I’m bringing Mia to her class and then I’m going to stay to volunteer as a parent, Lamberto Roy said.
It was nice to see everyone arriving for the new school year at Bernon Heights but also s a little bittersweet at the same time, according to Lamberto Roy. “I miss my job,” she admitted.
Another parent, Megan Methot had her four-year-old Matthew in tow as she brought son, Ryne, to his first day in first grade.
Although Ryne might have been a little quiet due to the end of his summer, Methot said she believes he will have a great year at Bernon Heights.
“I just think it is an amazing school,” she said. “His teacher last year, Mrs. Lisiecka, was amazing and I like this school because I went here,” she said.
Ryne is in Kim Joachim’s first grade this year, she added.
As she waited for her Room 16 kindergarten students on Wednesday, Debbie Duquette, a teacher with the district for 31 years, was also expecting a great start of school. “We have a lot of new initiatives in place and it is always exciting to start school,” Duquette said. Duquette said she got the chance to meet her students and their parents at Bernon Heights’ recent open house night and found them to be ready for the start of school. “They were very sweet and there were a lot of smiles,” she said.
Desrosiers, a past principal of the Globe Park Elementary School, is returning to the local district after a three-year stay as principal of the John F. Horgan Elementary School in West Warwick.
“So far so good,” Desrosiers said of Wednesday’s opening. The principal noted there were a couple of small things to tweak with classroom assignments but other than that everyone seemed to be settling in to the start of school.
The principal plans to focus his attention initially toward maintaining a supportive and safe environment for school’s 450 students in which they can easily learn. “Teachers can’t really teach if kids are disruptive and when they walk to class I want the hallways under control,” Desrosiers said while noting he will be maintaining discipline as one of his goals.
The principal also expects to solicit the support of parents in his efforts to drive student success. “Parents are crucial to my success as a principal. We are partners with the school staff in building up a community of learners,” he said. Desrosiers believes parents want the same thing. “I really am looking forward to a good school year,” he said of his expectations for Bernon Heights.