Syracuse (WSYR-TV) - Another school year has arrived and while it can be a time of adjustment, that’s an understatement for students from one Syracuse city school.
With HW Smith School under construction, the entire student body will operate out of the former Levy Middle School.
Constructed initially as a high school, Levy’s rooms are uneven sizes. So the school has configured each room and found a way to work in the technology they brought from HW Smith.
Principal Sharon Birkrant said the experience is entirely new.
"The how to dismiss is new...everything is new...the cafeteria, where the bathrooms are...it's been a challenge but its been an exciting time,” she said.
Although the schools are only geographically separated by a mile and a half, the difference for the students could be measured in thousands of miles.
Some students who have never ridden the bus to school now do. Others who have always ridden the bus now either walk or receive a ride from their parents.
At HW Smith, the district primarily is working to remove asbestos. The school’s exterior and interior remain the same.
Birkrant says she’s really hopeful that they will be able to return to HW Smith next year.
“I love it here. It’s really great now. And I’m having that feeling of touching history because the building was built in 1923 and, as we walk on the floor…they’re 1923 floors…but I want to go back to my house,” she said.
Syracuse’s Tech Central High School was the last to be temporarily housed at Levy. They started their first day back at their own, renovated school today.
