New students were not the only ones who celebrated their first day in Hillcrest School on September 5, the new principal did, too.

Lorri Vaccaro, who took the helm of Hillcrest on July 1, declared her first day with students and staff in the building as “amazing.”

“The children were incredibly excited to be back in the building and to see each other again, to see their old teachers and get to meet their new ones,” she said. “I was able to visit every classroom and it’s alive. It’s alive.”

“It’s nice to have a building go from silence to filled with laughter and smiles and giggling and all of that,” she said.

Vaccaro, who came from the Morris School District, was named to lead the Pre-K to 5th Grade school by the Board of Education on May 23. She replaces longtime principal Albert Fico, who retired at the end of last school year.

Vaccaro said preparing for opening day was a “team effort.”

“Preparing for today was a team effort between the front office staff, central office staff, looking at scheduling and making sure that we had the supplies that we needed for the students, that the rooms were set up, that they were clean and organized, schedules in place,” she said.

“It’s a lot of preparation to start a school year,” Vaccaro said. “But it really is a very systematic approach. Just going through the protocols of what do we need, so that when we receive students, that we are ready to meet all of their needs. So it was a lot of time and planning.”

“But I will say that I was in a good place,” she said. “A lot of the systems are already in place, so it was really just acclimating myself to the processes here, which were not vastly different than what I’m accustomed to.”

Vaccaro said she spent the summer learning the building and meeting staff.

“The staff have been amazing,” she said. “They started coming in over the summer to introduce themselves. I’ve met almost all of them one-on-one and then of course we had our faculty opening days and so everybody has been incredible. There’s an amazing team here and I know that we are going to continue the Franklin tradition and do great things together.”

She said her reception by students has been “great.”

“I have gotten a lot of wonderings and questions and conversations,” she said. “So I spent lunch in each lunchroom period. Getting to talk to kids, get to know their names. I’m pretty good with names. So some of the kids are just like, hey you know my name, because I met them at my pop-in and Meet the Principal event.”

Vaccaro said the coming year will be active, with many events being planned by the school PTO and the PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports) team.

“Really this year I’m here to listen and learn and then talk with the staff about where can we take it,” she said. “Some things that I did start to incorporate is I was able to go visit the Franklin Food Bank, which was phenomenal. They’re going to join us for some events, so bringing the community into the schools so that we can service the population.”

“I’m going to be reaching out to families in the next week or so in my newsletter, getting a needs assessment to see what are the needs in the district for the families here at Hillcrest,” she said. “Everything. Food, health care, rental assistance. Do they need help obtaining those services? Do they need help understanding life in school, curricular activities?”

“What do they need so that we can meet their targeted needs, as opposed to doing what I think they need?,” Vaccaro said. “I want to hear their voice. I’ve also asked the staff to provide that feedback, as well as the kids. I want to hear from all the stakeholders what is it that they need from me.”

The first event is set for September 12, the Hillcrest Avenue Back to School Bash, she said.

Vaccaro said she’s very happy that she chose to come to Franklin.

“I chose Franklin, well, two-fold,” she said. “I like the diversity of the community. Environmentally, culturally, ethnically, politically, all of it. It’s a very comprehensively diverse area, and that is just a place that speaks to my heart.”

“And then, honestly, going through that interview process, I knew that this is a place that I wanted to continue to go through that process and hopefully land,” she said. “Based on the people that I encountered in all of the interview processes, the questions that they’re asking, it spoke to me that it was a district that its mission and vision statement was not something hung on a wall somewhere and forgotten. It’s actually lived in practice and that I want to live in my purpose and you felt that immediately and that’s how I knew I needed to be here.”

“So I’m grateful that that opportunity came to fruition and everything that I thought has been in practice,” Vaccaro said. “Every professional development that has been offered by the district for myself and the staff, the conversations about curriculum and where kids are and what kids need and how to help families all directly tied to that vision, so it’s a district that lives in his values.”