Students in Worcester return to the classroom

WORCESTER, Mass — Back to school in Worcester! First through 12th graders walked back into schools throughout the city.

It’s still technically summer, but students at Worcester’s Clark Street Community School were excited to show off their brand-new clothes and backpacks at drop-off.

“You need to get me this stuff, you need to get me back to school stuff so she was really ready to come back to school today,” said Kojoo Boyake as he dropped off his daughter.

Balloons, music, and a large crowd of teachers, the Mayor, and the Superintendent were all there to welcome students on their new year.

“January first people are excited about what can be in the school world, it is the first day of school of what can be,” said Superintendent Rachel Monarrez. “Every teacher gets a brand new start with a brand new group of children and every principal gets a brand new start as well so there’s nothing better.”

Clark Street’s Principal Fjodor Dukaj, who won the district’s administrator of the year award, talked about the new approach teachers are going to have with their students---and their parents.

“You can’t do good work unless you work in partnership with a family,” said Principal Dukaj. “And that’s one thing we recognized that’s of priority. We see a need to support our families and to support the kids at home in meeting their social and emotional needs. And meeting their academic demands.”

Worcester Public Schools is encouraging students to be the spark—whether it’s using their innovation or creativity to get ready for whatever the future holds.

“After school, our children are creating all kinds of things in the technology world they’ve got their YouTube videos that they’ve got going online businesses podcasts, we need to bring those into our classrooms, especially for our older students and have that be a part of showing their learning,” said Superintendent Monarrez.

The district has been able to find $3.5 million in savings after it brought its school bus operations in-house. It reallocated some of that money into teacher supply budgets—helping provide better tools in the classroom.

PreK and kindergarten start on Thursday. This year, there will be full-time paraprofessionals in kindergarten classrooms

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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