Schools

New Rochelle High School Gearing Up for Students Return

Work in the 530,000-square-foot building work place during the summer months.

The halls of New Rochelle High School were empty Friday, but it won't be that way for much longer.

The first students—the freshmen—will show up Wednesday for their first day in high school. Returning sophomores and juniors will have their first day in the 2011-12 school year Thursday, with seniors joining them Friday.

Principal Donald Conetta said the freshmen will be mentored by juniors and seniors in the Ignite Mentoring program. The juniors and seniors will act as guides, helping the freshmen find their way around, he said.

"The teachers have been coming in on their own," Conetta said, "working on their classrooms. They don't start officially until Tuesday."

New teachers began district-wide orientation Aug. 29 and the three new high-school faculty members had their high-school orientation Wednesday.

This year, he said, there will be close to 3,400 students in the high school.

"It's leveled off," Conetta said. "We had significant growth from the mid-'90s until two or three years ago. The last couple of years have been fairly consistent."

He said the school has 220 teachers, down from previous years.

"We cut a little under 40 (personnel) over the last two years," Conetta said, "and about half were teachers." That brings the class size to 26 and more.

He said the school was fortunate in that it has not had to cut programs.

"We are able maintain, if not the number of sections, at least offering the elective," Conetta said. "In that sense, we've done a good job." If budgets continue to be cut, that may change in the future, he said.

Conetta said the summer was spent closing out the previous school year, making assessments, gathering data from the year and finalizing student records. The scheduling was started in the spring and finished during the summer.

The custodial staff spent the entire summer getting the school back into shape for the returning students.

"They work through the entire building," Conetta said, "stripping every floor, putting down two layers of wax, painting where we need to and making repairs."

The 530,000-square-foot building is one of the largest high schools in the state, he said.

"It takes a quality staff and a good number of staff to go through the whole place," Conetta said.


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