Delayed Start Has Teachers Eager to Begin School Year

With opening day of Greenwich Public Schools pushed back until Wednesday, September 7, due to persistent power outages after Hurricane Irene, veteran 39-year Julian Curtiss School third grade teacher, Karen Nagy, without power herself for most of the week, will be more than ready to receive her 19 fresh faces next week.

“I start readying my classroom the first week of August,” said Nagy, who comes in on her own time over the summer to make preparations. “As soon as the custodians have finished cleaning, I’m in here rearranging furniture.”

Wednesday morning, Nagy met one of the aides for a special needs student in her class, laminated materials in the media center and started working on her lesson plans. 

Nagy, Distinguished Teacher recipient in 2004, has always looked forward to the first day of school. “Two years ago I broke my back in a car accident and missed the start of school for the first time since 1955. That was very sad because I really wanted to be here.”

Asked about the cancellation of Monday's convocation, the traditional gathering at Greenwich High of all teachers from the district, Nagy said she was a bit disappointed. “I did miss the camaraderie and chance to catch up with teachers who’ve moved to other buildings.”

At North Mianus School, new students in first through fifth grade received an orientation on Wednesday. New families could be seen taking tours of the building and the grounds. In the office Dale Falco and Debra Perry fielded a constant stream of questions from curious moms and dads: "Are we too close to qualify for the school bus?" "Can I add money to my son’s account in the cafeteria?" "Can I update my contact information?"

Kindergarten teacher, Karen Foster, said orientation for her grade was set for 11:00 am.

“They’ll come in and drop off their supplies,” she said pointing to the bright plastic buckets on the tiny desks. “They’ll have a chance to meet each other and have a graham cracker snack in the cafeteria. It’s nice because then they’re not scared.”

One snag for teachers’ preparations involves the enrollment in the individual buildings. Enrollment is not considered finalized until the end of August and it corresponds to the number of homeroom sections. Potentially, one additional child could trigger an additional homeroom.

At Julian Curtiss an additional kindergarten section was added, affecting the overall schedule of “specials” like art and music. “Ahh, now I can work on my lesson plans,” said Nagy. “We thought an upper grade might be affected too, but just kindergarten.”

With the first day of school pushed back to post-Labor Day, students and staff alike can take advantage of this week’s good sleeping weather. Starting Wednesday, teachers will send Irene to the back of the class and everyone can finally hit the books.