“Good morning! I’m Mrs. Lee, your proud principal. Who are you?”
Principal Moniek Silas-Lee echoed this refrain to each student she saw arriving early to the newly opened Loretta Johnson Middle School on Genesee Street.
“I want to know every student by name,” Silas-Lee said Thursday. “I want students to know me. I want students to be able to advocate for themselves. And if I’m not visible, if I’m not in the community — school community — with them, that’s not going to be possible.”
This week marked the return of students across the region — including in Rochester, the area’s largest district.
Thursday was particularly noteworthy in the city as one of the largest reconfigurations in the Rochester City School District’s history meant hundreds of elementary, middle and high school students were starting the year at a new school. That includes four middle schools, like Loretta Johnson, that didn’t exist before.
The newness was not just reserved for students. Thursday also was Silas-Lee’s first day in her role at the school.