Updated: Parents Reflect on First Days of Princeton Plan at Comsewogue Schools

On Tuesday kids and parents in Comsewogue and had to navigate as well as dealing with a big change in how the elementary schools are organized. After the , the district enacted , shuffling the elementary schools around to save money.

Many parents were nervous about the changes, envisioning children wandering the hallways unsure of where to go as they were suddenly forced to attend a new school building.

At the board of education meeting on Tuesday night, the consensus was that the day went well and teacher representatives reported that morale was high. The biggest complaint was about transportation although a community member said that issues reported to the school on the first day was estimated at about 25 problems district-wide, all of them considered minor taking into account the major changes the Princeton Plan brought about in such a short time.

"Other than a few minor problems, the first day went well," said board member Lance Brown in an email to Patch. "We had some issues with bussing and prolonged bus rides, but these were to be expected."

The staff and teachers worked hard over the summer to prepare for the coming school year, according to Brown.

"It will take some time to get used too (the start times and dismissal times) but I think the first day went as expected," he said.

Feedback has been mixed with some parents shrugging their shoulders at the small problems they encountered. Others were not so forgiving.

Lucy Vecchio told Patch that communication was a problem on the first day.

“Apparently there are many differences between school procedures in the same district which would be great in a non-Princeton Plan community first day of school,” she told Patch on Facebook. “I think someone should have thought about this and set up some sort of school information meetings to be able to communicate better.”

She pointed out the different dismissal procedures at each school.

“Very unhappy,” she said.

Kelly Reese also said the different procedures were a problem.

“I agree with Lucy 100 percent,” she said. “Very different and very unhappy.”

Other parents said that despite the hiccups, the teachers, staff and administrators made the transition easy for the students.

Stacey Heckelman Devaux said that the only problem she had was with Mother Nature.

"Both my daughter and I felt very prepared, and made the transition with ease," said Devaux. "Could have lived without the rain, but thats not Princeton Plan's fault!"

Carol DeGregorio said the first two days of school went well except for the bussing.

"My kids are happy and like their new teachers," said DeGregorio. "The only thing we have to work on is the time on the Norwood bus coming home. It was 45 minutes late yesterday and today the kids said the bus driver missed some stops."

Michele Guzman also said the bus was late for her elementary school.

"Our bus was late as well and thankfully I drive my son to school in the morning because my neighbor said there was only one person getting all of the kids off of all the buses with no guidance," Guzman said. "Thats scary. Especially when we arent familiar with Norwood."

What do you think?