On the same day the State Education Department released test results showing Rochester City Schools again bringing up the rear in the Big Five Districts in ELA and Math, officials cut the ribbon Wednesday on the "new" Virgil I. Grissom School Number 7 in the city.
After being closed for two years, the building has $25 million in improvements, as students return to class this fall.
It's one of the schools renovated as part of the $1 billion Rochester School Modernization Program.
School Principal David Lincoln says one noticeable improvement is the environment inside the building.
"The air conditioning, much more conducive to learning. Technology is another huge component of it. In every single learning room, we have got the 60 inch clear touch panels, no longer the smartboards, now multiple students can go up and manipulate the technology," he said.
Sixth grader Infinity Hernandez is happy to return to her school.
"One of the biggest improvements is, we have air-conditioning. This makes learning so much easier when it's hot outside. No more melting in our seats and sticking to the desks," she said.
Mayor Lovely Warren says projects like this should translate into better attendance and achievement among students.
"That in modernized schools, you have better attendance, you have more students coming to school. It's a better quality of education, with equipment and teachers are really more excited about teaching because they have the technology that they need for 21st century learning," she said.
City School Superintendent Barbara Deane-Williams added the district is going school by school to update the facilities, so that students in Rochester, who deserve nothing but the best, are brought the very best.
Mayor Lovely Warren welcomed students and staff to a new and improved School 7:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xcgYUIhkZk">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xcgYUIhkZk
Everything is new and improved at School 7 (except the scissors, apparently)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fms1-5DYlJM">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fms1-5DYlJM