Sept. 5, 2008 - The Maplewood Elementary School community was officially welcomed to the North Colonie Central School District on Friday.

Faculty, students and staff gathered for an assembly in the gymnasium, where they were greeted by Superintendent Randy Ehrenberg.

“I want to welcome you all to Maplewood for the new school year and let you know you are all part of our larger family,” she said.

View a photo gallery of the assembly and Maplewood's first week as part of North Colonie Central Schools. 
 

The two districts became one on July 1, about nine months after residents of the two communities voted overwhelmingly in favor of a merger.
 

At Friday’s assembly, students learned about responsibility and respect, September’s Character Education traits. Asked what those two words mean, students offered a number of different answers.
 

“Don’t be mean to people,” one student said about respect.
 

Another student said responsibility means “if your friend goes away and asks you to take care of her rabbit, you just do it and you don’t forget.”
 

At lunchtime, students ate in the school’s new cafeteria, which was added over the summer. Prior to this year, Maplewood students had to trudge across the parking lot to the annex building each day just to eat their lunches, even in the rain and bitter cold.
 

“Sometimes we had to walk through the pouring rain and puddles,” said Dominic, a Maplewood fifth-grader, as he munched on a slice of pizza. “It’s a lot easier now.”
 

Principal Jerome Steele said what made the new cafeteria possible was that the schools seventh- and eighth-graders now attend Shaker Junior High School. Fewer students in the school freed up space for the lunch room.
 

“Now that everything is under one roof, it will work much better,” Steele said.