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Although 90-degree days are still in the forecast, the first day of school is just around the corner for West New York's children.

The students in West New York's six elementary schools, along with Memorial High School and the Early Childhood Center, will begin classes Sept. 4.

Superintendent of Schools Anthony Yankovich said that the students can expect some new faces this year as well as a few upgrades to their school buildings.

Just about every school in West New York will see a new face behind the principal's desk this year. Although only two new principals were appointed this year, most of the veteran principals will be moving to different schools.

"We reassigned our veteran principals to our larger buildings and placed the new principals in our smaller schools," said Yankovich about the switches.

The district lost seven administrative employees at the end of the last school year due to a separation package offered to Board of Education administrators who had been employed with the board for 25 years or longer. The district lost principals, assistant principals and one district supervisor.

The package offered administrators the full value of their remaining sick days if they agreed to resign last June. Normally, education employees only receive 50 percent of their sick time.

Among the principals who retired in June were Public School No. 1 Principal Lawrence Riccardi and Public School No. 5 Principal Al Lopez.

Donald Roca will be the principal assigned to Public School No. 1. Anthony Farinola, a new principal this year, will be assigned to Public School No. 2. Clara Herrera, a new principal this year, will be assigned to Public School No. 3, Sixto Cardenas will be moving from Public School No. 2 to Public School No. 5 in September, and Sharon Johnson will be leaving Public School No. 3 for Harry L. Bain School. Claire Warnock will be the new principal at the Early Childhood Center, and Israel Rodriguez will be the new principal for Alternative Education.

Bernard Abbadessa will remain the principal at Public School No. 4 and Mathew Sinisi will remain as principal of Memorial High School.

Many schools will also be seeing new assistant principals.

John Fauta and Patrick Gagliardi will be the two assistant principals at Memorial High School, Dennis Dwyer will be the assistant principal at Public School No. 2, Glen Rome will be the assistant principal at Public School No. 5, and Stacey Olivero will be the assistant principal at Public School No. 4.

According to Yankovich, all promotions took place within the district.

As part of the building program funded by the state's Economic Development Authority, many of the district's schools will be undergoing construction during the first few months of the school year.

Public Schools Nos. 1, 3, 4 and Harry L. Bain school will have new bathrooms constructed over the course of the school year.

New roofs will be put on three of the district's elementary schools will as well as the installation of new windows and doors in all the schools buildings.

According to Yankovich, the work on the schools began this summer and is only continuing during the first few months of the school year. However, Yankovich said that this construction will not interfere with the students work.

"This will not disrupt the school work," said Yankovich. "All of the major work being done will be done before and after school hours."

Yankovich also expects to break ground on the district's new middle school in September.

This year, the West New York District will be continuing its emphasis on the lower grades. To reinforce the reading program started in the kindergarten through third grade classes two years ago, Yankovich said that the district hired six additional reading teachers.

Yankovich said that this program allows the reading teachers to work with the classroom teachers during the first 90 minutes of each school day. The reading teachers then work one-on-one throughout the day with students having problems with reading.

"We are putting a lot of emphasis on our primary grades," said Yankovich. "If we can correct any problems they have there, as they graduate to the next grade level and then the next they will have less discipline and other problems."

The district is also beginning an internal mentoring program where master teachers in the district assist new teachers in the kindergarten through third grade classrooms.

The district's latest standardized test scores show that the emphasis that the district is giving to the younger grades is paying off.

The state mandates that every public school administer an Elementary School Proficiency Assessment (ESPA) exam in the fourth grade and a Grade Eight Proficiency Assessment (GEPA) exam in the eighth grade.

Last year, the District scored in the 87.4 percentile in the language arts section of the ESPA exam and in the 84 percentile in math.

In the GEPA exams, the district received a 94.9 percent score in language arts, a 92.3 percent in math and a 86.3 percent in science.

The passing score for both the ESPA and the GEPA exams is 75 percent.

"We scored way above the passing grade," said Yankovich. "This shows that the programs we have in the elementary schools are working."

This year, the state will also be administering a standardized test to the third grade studetns as well as the fourth and eighth grade students.