SCHENECTADY — Four-year-old Natasha Nivens was psyched to start kindergarten at Franklin D. Roosevelt School.

“She’s very excited. She’s ready to get to class and start doing something,” said her mother, Victoria Nivens.

Natasha said she liked playing over the summer but was ready to learn.

Natasha was one of the district’s 10,000 students who headed back to the classroom Thursday morning. Not only was it the first day of school but it was also the first day for three new elementary school facilities — FDR on Lansing Street, Katharine Burr Blodgett on Bradt Street and William C. Keane on Albany Street. All three are former Catholic schools.

The Schenectady City School District unveiled three new elementary schools Wednesday, including the Franklin D. Roosevelt Elementary School on Lansing Street.
Watch Video»

The extra facilities were needed to accommodate the roughly 500 students returning from the closed International Charter School of Schenectady.

FDR Principal Pedro Roman welcomed the roughly 150 students as they entered the cafeteria.

“Hi, it’s nice to meet you,” he said to Natasha.

Roman spent the last year as a principal for Capital Region BOCES and the previous six as dean of students for Oneida Middle School. He said the school is going to have curriculum nights, a reading contest and a mascot contest.

“Our theme is going to be welcoming families and providing a nurturing and safe place for students to grow,” he said.

Seven-year-old Nadia Couvertier, a former charter school student, was crying on the lap of her grandmother, Dianna.

“It’s a new school. I guess she doesn’t see very much of her friends from last year. She probably feels uncomfortable,” said her mother, Katiria.

Ryan Acevedo, 6, a first-grader, was recovering from his busy summer. “I played outside and I played my video games,” he said.

First-year science teacher Jeanna Blair said she was excited to teach at this new school. She looked forward to exciting science projects including a unit on butterflies.

different butterflies

Over at Blodgett, Principal Nancy Fontaine knows a thing or two about butterflies.

“This morning I felt the same butterflies that I felt 23 years ago when I had my first classroom so for me, this is like one big classroom,” she said. “This is like Disney — the greatest place on earth. It’s really good. Kids were excited, parents were excited. We didn’t sleep last night and we probably won’t sleep for the new week or so.”

Fontaine said the school will do a unit on the history of Blodgett, who was General Electric’s first female scientist.

The other new school is William C. Keane Elementary — named after a founder of St. Luke’s School. New lunch room supervisor William Gadson was eager to help the kids.

“I’m a little nervous, along with the kids, trying to figure out where things are at,” he said.

The school’s principal is John Sardos, former principal of Pleasant Valley.

Superintendent Eric Ely said the opening day went off without a lot of hiccups. Opening the new schools and changing the start times of all the schools to accommodate an extra 30 minutes of instruction involved rewriting all the bus routes.

“It’s been a good challenge but there were a lot of good people working on it,” he said.

Some of the new schools have still been awaiting new furniture, which is on back order from the company the district uses. The schools have been making do with existing equipment.

About 5,500 students at all 15 elementary schools received backpacks filled with school supplies like pencils and paper courtesy of members of the Junior League of Schenectady. The project is part of Operation Back-to-School — now in its sixth year — which has served 2,500 children at Van Corlaer, Lincoln and Hamilton schools. This is the first year the program has been expanded to include all the schools. Students at Fulton, Yates and Hamilton received backpacks of specific supplies requested by teachers at those schools. SCA Tissue of South Glens Falls also donated tissues and paper towels.

Over at Scotia-Glenville’s Lincoln Elementary School, Principal Ann Comley said the first day went “beautifully.”

New this year is a third session of physical education for first-, second- and third-grade students. Students and staff are still getting acclimated to their routine. She noticed students’ gleaming footwear on the first day.

“They all had on their new sneakers, a lot of smiles on their faces. . . . The children generally adjust better than the parents,” she said.

Fourth-grader Jeremy Schaffer, 9, was excitedly talking about his summer adventures.

“We went to Washington, D.C. We saw the White House and we actually got to go inside the Washington Monument,” he said.

Nine-year-old Dhevon Roman, also in fourth grade, showed off a gold medal he received. His year is off to a good start.

“If you’re good for the day, then they give you one. I behaved and I listened,” he said.