The buzzword at Perry Hill School Monday was ‘cafetorium.’
“It’s a cafeteria. Aaaaaaand it’s an auditorium,” fifth-grade teacher Melissa Fenstermaker told her class Monday morning, on the opening day of Shelton schools.
The description was repeated several times throughout the day, as different teachers gave tours to the 860 students who started school in the newly-refinished building.
The cafetorium is one of the several wonders of Perry Hill School, the district’s new 5 – 6 school, which recently underwent a $42 million renovation.
The new school is part of the district’s restructuring — previously, the fifth and sixth grade students went to the elementary schools.
Last year, one elementary school closed its doors, and the fifth and sixth graders were shifted to Perry Hill School.
New Freedoms
Along with a new building to get used to, the fifth and sixth graders are now separated from the elementary students for the first time. That means more freedom and privileges than they’re used to in the elementary school buildings.
Nowhere is that more defined than the lunch room — the cafetorium.
During the first couple of weeks, students will have to raise their hands if they want to get an extra napkin or fork. But once they get used to the routine, they will be allowed to get up without permission — a privilege that doesn’t exist in the elementary school cafeterias.
“If you follow the rules and you’re nice and quiet, we’ll give you some freedoms you might not have had in your elementary schools,” said Lorraine Williams, the school’s principal.
Students at Perry Hill will also switch classrooms for some subjects. They will split their time between two teachers.
When Fenstermaker’s students walked into her classroom Monday, they saw a difference there too.
“I didn’t assign seats,” Fenstermaker told the group of anxious fifth graders. “Sit where you like. I want you to feel good on your first day.”
Questions
Fenstermaker and fifth-grade teacher Ron Gydus focused their time Monday letting the students start to feel comfortable in their new surroundings.
“We get to know each other, we get to know the school, we get to know the staff. Once you have that, you’re ready to learn,” Gydus told the students.
The fifth graders had lots of questions.
“What sports did you play as a kid?”
“Will we still have snack time?”
“Do you like drama?”
“What’s the meanest thing you’ve ever done to a student?”
Gydus responded: “Mean is not in my vocabulary.”
“Anything I’ve ever done for a student is going to make you a better person,” Gydus said.
Reactions
Monday morning, several parents came to school to send their children off.
Jean-Claude Desrosiers and his wife Mireille said their daughter was happy to come to the school.
“We’re excited,” Mireille Desrosiers said. “Our daughter is growing up. She’s excited about this school.”
Missy Kazlauskas and Camille Perez waited for the bus with their children — less than a block away from the school.
Kazlauskas — who said the children were assigned a bus so they wouldn’t have to cross the busy street — later drove the students, because the last bus to pass their stop was full and couldn’t fit the three students.
She said she was happy with the new system.
“I think it will be a good start for them, for their ages,” Kazlauskas said. “It will get them prepared for (switching classes).”
So How Did it Go?
Williams and Superintendent Freeman Burr said opening the school went smoothly.
“We’re all happy,” Williams said. “If we get through lunch and dismissal, we’ll be good to go.”
Several areas of the building —including the main foyer — still need completion. The school’s second gymnasium is still closed to the public until renovations there are completed.
“There’s still a punch list, but nothing we were concerned about to get the kids started,” Burr said of the unfinished sections.
Some minor details will work themselves out as the week progresses.
Like, for example, fifth-grader Nicky’s dilemma in a new girls bathroom:
“Mrs. Fensy. We have paper towels and a sink. But no garbage can,” Nicky told Fenstermaker.