The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Day of firsts for students across the school district
Smiles, laughter and even some tears marked the first day of classes Thursday morning as students across the district arose early, dressed in their back-to-school best and boarded buses, all eager to begin the year anew.
New Macdonough Principal Damian Reardon milled about the blacktop at the Spring Street school, filled with groups of children of all ages, their siblings, relatives and parents snapping as many photographs as they could in the moments before the 8:50 a.m. start of the 201718 year.
It was a day of firsts and a return to Connecticut for Reardon, who joined the district last month after leaving his post as principal of Salish Ponds Elementary School in Fairview, Oregon.
Reardon replaced Interim Principal Steve Woznicki, who led the school throughout the
2016-17 year.
“I am so excited the kids are finally here,” he said, his voice rising over the shouts of children. “It’s one thing to start the school year in July and be in the school by myself, but this is what we’re about — the students.”
Reardon said he was delighted the weather turned out so nice after the forecast saw a possibility of morning rain earlier this week.
“To me, you have those first-day jitters and the excitement — and the butterflies,” said Reardon, who just moved to Old Lyme. “I know how they’re feeling. My kids moving back again: Their first day of school was yesterday. I was able to relate with a lot of the fourth-grade students that were coming in yesterday [to Macdonough].
“‘I know how you feel when you’re new,’ he told them. ‘That’s OK. It’s totally normal,’” said Reardon, the father of an 18-year-old college freshman, an 11-yearold sixth-grader, 9-year-old fourth-grader and 4-yearold preschooler.
Getting the job in Middletown was a dream come true, Reardon said.
“Growing up in Stonington in the southeast corner [of the state], I wanted to move back here and live on the coast,” he said.
Reardon was pleased with the welcome and support he has been met with already in droves, he said.
“It’s an amazing school and the staff is amazing,” he said. “I told them yesterday I’ve never seen more dedicated teachers because in Middletown — and it seems like Connecticut — they don’t give a lot of time for teachers to prep before the kids come.”
Macdonough this year has reached capacity with its enrollment, Reardon said, at about 237.
“Some classes have 15, 16, 17, 18 and others 24, 25, which is almost unheard of in Middletown, but we’re trying to do the best we can. Without a state budget right now, we’re figuring out what we need,” Reardon said.
Student enrollment is up slightly district-wide, said Superintendent of Schools Patricia Charles. Seventyfour more children are attending classes this year. That figures includes outplaced students at magnet and other schools, she said.
“There are 34 more students in kindergarten this year (409). The unofficial enrollment for today is 4,663, compared to 4,589 last year,” said Charles, who made her rounds Thursday morning and afternoon, checking in on and greeting students and staff. “I’m very impressed. Everything went very well — there were lots of brand new sneakers and sparkles. It was a great opening.”
On the other side of town, Farm Hill Elementary School begins the year with a new principal, Jennifer Calabrese, who was most recently vice principal at Walsh Elementary School in Waterbury.
“They’re all off to a great start,” Charles said of her staff.
Meanwhile, students will see some changes over the coming weeks.
“We are continuing to roll out the new science standards and [Next Generation Science Standards]. We also have a great new program starting at the high school” called equal opportunity school, she said.
“This year is a planning year for it. We got a grant to help improve the number of minority and low-income kids that are in our [advance placement] classes that is really exciting, because our AP classes always have lots of great offerings but don’t necessarily reflect the demographics of our population,” Charles said.
The program identifies children who should be in those advanced curriculum classes, she said.
“Probably next year, if you compare this year’s AP enrollment with next year’s, you’re going to see a dramatic change,” Charles said.
Keigwin Principal Silvia Mayo Molina, boarded each bus as the driver waited to disembark the students at the Spruce Street facility, happily greeting them and offering instructions for where the students would assemble inside.
Now in her sixth year at Keigwin, Molina said her first group of sixth-graders are now seniors at Middletown High School. She was thrilled to see some familiar faces.
“The younger siblings are coming now, so I’m having lots of repeat parents. It’s the best feeling, especially when the weather is this gorgeous,” Molina said. “It’s crisp, the kids are ready to go, they have big smiles on their faces, they’re looking forward to the day — they have their backpacks, usually new outfits, their hair is all spiffy.
“They’re excited to see friends. They see people in the hall, maybe people they didn’t see over the summer, or kids that they knew from the elementary school but were on different teams,” Molina said. “And they’re like, ‘Hi! I remember you from camp!’”
Assistant Principal Roberto Ortiz stood outside as buses arrived just before 8 a.m. He said staff have been preparing all summer to receive the students.
“I feel very confident,” he said of the year ahead. “We have worked for the past few years in an effort to strengthen our curriculum to create a structure that will increase the students’ rigor and understanding.”
Over at Macdonough, just before parents and children arrived at the playground area, Mary Beth Brick set out orange cones that had been converted to classroom markers, where the students lined up by teacher and grade.
This marks her 10th year as the elementary instructional support teacher at Macdonough. Among her duties, Brick works with teachers on data team assessments, during which they often break out into small groups, she said.
After being at Macdonough for more than a decade, Brick was excited to see the children return to the neighborhood school, where kindergarten through fifth-graders attend classes.
Very often, Brick said, students who move on to Keigwin and Woodrow Wilson middle schools will return to Macdonough to visit. When the dismissal bell rings and children are let out for the day, some older siblings are there to pick up their little sisters, brothers or cousins.
“It’s really great to see them grow up and then we have them come back and have them visit, too, after they’ve graduated and moved on. It’s just such a sense of community here,” she said.
Earlier this month, the school district, in jeopardy of losing several million dollars in state funding, told members of the council’s finance and government committee it could be forced to eliminate 11 teaching positions from the elementary level.
At last week’s Board of Education meeting, however, members rejected the proposed layoff of three elementary school instructors.
Earlier this month, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy announced steep cuts in aid to towns and cities, and a plan to redistribute educational cost sharing dollars to schools statewide in October if lawmakers cannot resolve the state budget impasse.
Connecticut’s 30 poorest school districts could see level funding while others may lose their support entirely if legislators at the Capitol can’t arrive at a spending package by midSeptember, Malloy’s plan outlined.
In Middletown, according to Mayor Dan Drew’s Budget Analyst Tina Gomes, the Board of Education could get the same Educational Cost Sharing dollars as last year — $1.95 million, which includes Alliance District money, Gomes said.
Adult education, which received $1.25 million in 2016-17, would rise to $1.28 million under the governor’s proposal, she added.
But until a budget is ratified, teachers, officials, students and parents play the waiting game.