By:Angela Marshall
As if starting high school weren't scary enough, 14-year-old Brietta Adams is starting it more than 2,000 miles from the bulk of her friends. She moved to Rockville Centre from Prescott, Ariz. just two weeks ago.
Brietta's stepfather got a new job at Nassau Community College and the whole family moved in with her grandparents in Rockville Centre. With just one friend in the area, Brietta admits to being a little nervous about starting ninth grade at South Side, but she is also hopeful.
She won't be the only newcomer this fall. When school opens Sept. 5 there will many new students and 44 new teachers in the district.
These teachers went back to school early, attending the New Teacher Institute at the high school over the last two weeks.
They were joined by the district's buildings and grounds crew who were hard at work putting the finishing touches on alterations made over the summer. Students will be greeted by many changes next week both in the classroom and out.
Rooms at all five of the elementary schools have been readied for full-day kindergarten, which will be offered for the first time this year.
New math books are also waiting in all elementary school classrooms. Publishers stopped making the district's previous book.
Wilson students will finally have a new playground.
At the middle school, students will be expected to make it through the day sans backpack. The trial run last year without the bags was deemed a success and administrators decided it was healthier for the children's backs and made the hallways less crowded. Any student who feels that giving up their bag would present a hardship can see their guidance counselor for an exemption to the rule.
Class ranking is also a thing of the past. From now on, high school students will be judged on their own individual merits, not on their grades relative to other students.
High schoolers in the International Baccalaureate program will find themselves under new leadership. Former coordinator David Weiss is now the assistant principal and IB coordinator for Commack High School. John Murphy, who has taught English and the Theory of Knowledge in the IB program at South Side for five years, is the new coordinator.
Murphy said there will be no drastic differences with the change in leadership. He plans to keep the program moving at the same momentum with the goal of graduating more students each year.
The only new class at the high school is an IB film studies course.
