For New City Elementary School Principal Debra Forman, the best part of the first day of school is the end of it.
"At the end of the day, when I see the youngest students walking up the hallway I ask them how their day went and they just start jumping up and down with excitement," Forman said. "They say they had a great time and love their teacher. They can't wait to get home and tell their parents about it."
Forman got to do that on Tuesday, when all schools in Clarkstown Central School District opened their doors for the first day of the 2010-2011 school year.
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During the first day of the school year, Forman said part of her day is directing newcomers around, whether it's parents coming to read or students coming to the school for the first time.
"I take them by the hands and help them get to where they need to go so they don't get lost," she said.
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She also said she greets all the children off the bus, checks in on how classes are going and talks to kids about how their summers went. By her account, everything went fine at New City on the first day of the year.
"It was smooth and quiet," she said. "It was just a beautiful, easy transition for the kids. I did not see a single tear."
Francine Cuccia, the principal of Link Elementary School, also said everything went fine on the first day over on Red Hill Road.
"The first day was off to a very exciting start," she said. "The children and parents came back to school very excited to be here."
On the first day of school, Cuccia said she holds a breakfast for new families to the school.
"We informally get together after they dropped children off with staff," she said. "It's to invite partnership to the parents and show they're an important part of the school."
Cuccia said her day also consists partially of greeting students when they get to school, checking on classes and making sure all the kids get to the right room.
Her favorite part of the first day of school is just seeing the kids, and the energy they bring to the building.
"We're here all summer and it's quite lonely doing paperwork and setting up the curriculum," she said. "It's nice seeing the happy faces of the kids and the hugs they give you."
With the start of the new school year is the resumption of school traffic on local roads. However, Clarkstown police said there were no serious accidents on the roads yesterday with back-to-school traffic.
