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Opening Day for Syracuse Schools Meant New Approaches in some Schools

John Smith/WAER News

  Seven Elementary Schools were busy with surprise gifts on the first day of School, Tuesday.  Unexpected visitors dropped off backpacks with school supplies. 4,000 i-Zone students were ready to learn. The specialized schools offer an extended academic school day. The schedule is also designed to help out teachers with flexible school hours to provide extra help and the necessary planning time for professional staff development.  New Principal of the Seymour Dual-Language Academy, Ms. Rria Cruz-Soto felt things were going very smoothly.

“Excited…feeling like we’re ready to have a wonderful year.  I think the students are ready.  We have so many community members that really support us, so for them they are so appreciative.  We have sneakers, we have everything, so the kids are so appreciative.” 

Credit John Smith/WAER News
Seymour Principal Rria Cruz-Soto

    

We stopped by a classroom learning the school-wide rules.

“One-two, eyes on you” said students in their first classroom of the year.  And their teacher, Tia Florence responded, “we have four main rules in these schools.  One is to be prepared; give your best effort; three is to be respectful and four is to be safe.” 

Something new at the school this year is instruction in both English and Spanish.  Several other Central New York School Districts Joined Syracuse Schools and opened their doors today for the new school year.

Chris Bolt, Ed.D. has proudly been covering the Central New York community and mentoring students for more than 30 years. His career in public media started as a student volunteer, then as a reporter/producer. He has been the news director for WAER since 1995. Dedicated to keeping local news coverage alive, Chris also has a passion for education, having trained, mentored and provided a platform for growth to more than a thousand students. Career highlights include having work appear on NPR, CBS, ABC and other news networks, winning numerous local and state journalism awards.
John Smith has been waking up WAER listeners for a long time as our Local Co-Host of Morning Edition with timely news and information, working alongside student Sportscasters from the Newhouse School.