On the first day of school on Sept. 5 in Norwood, PS 94 Principal Diane Daprocida laid down the law for a few boisterous, wayward students wandering the halls. “Where do you think you’re going?” she asked a sheepish youngster who promptly started walking slower and with purpose.

“First day, you have to set the tone for the entire year,” she said later after admonishing an entire class for not walking in an orderly and cohesive manner.

Like Daprocida, the Norwood News is setting the tone for another year of comprehensive education coverage with our annual school preview. In 2006-2007 many local schools are going through profound changes as they introduce new programs, philosophies and technology. Some schools have become part of the city’s bold new Empowerment Program, which gives schools more autonomy, responsibility and money.

The following is a rundown of what’s new at local elementary and middle schools. The schools omitted did not return calls seeking information.

The Bronx Dance Academy – Bainbridge Avenue.
Amy Jones, Bronx Dance Academy’s principal, is originally from Kansas City, but she worked under former Region 1 Superintendent Irma Zardoya for several years. Now, in her second year, Jones is coming into her own on the 300-student middle school’s Bainbridge Avenue campus.

With two new teachers (“who are wonderful,” she says) and money for new Smart Boards – the newest interactive and tech-savvy reinvention of the blackboard, which can be hooked up to computers and laptops – Jones is “looking forward to an amazing year” in 2006-2007.

Jones says the focus this year for her administration and teachers will be on exploring and examining how visual and dance arts can be incorporated and fused into the teaching of the humanities curriculum. She’s most looking to forward to the Academy’s many ensemble performances, especially the holiday show, set for sometime in December.

MS 254 – Washington Avenue.
Not surprisingly, PS 254 Parent Coordinator Edwin De Los Santos says the school will be focusing on getting the parents more involved this year. “When we have meetings, we want them to be involved,” he says. “We’re going to be doing a lot of different types of workshops to invite them in. We want to have raffles and work more with the PTA as well.”

For example, on Sept. 23, there will be a school orientation night where parents will have the opportunity to talk with teachers and administrators about expectations for the upcoming year.

The After School Corporation (TASC) will be helping those parents out by providing PS 254 kids with plenty of extracurricular activities. Funded by the United Way and administered by the Community Association of Progressive Dominicans, TASC tutors 400 of the school’s 550 students and also teaches them photography, video production and art. TASC also does sports and takes kids on field trips to places like Yankee Stadium and the aquarium.

This year, just like last year, but more strictly enforced, PS 254 will require students to wear uniforms: white polo shirts and dark skirts for girls or dark slacks for boys.

PS 8 – Briggs Avenue.
Finally, some relief for PS 8. Thanks to a $100,000 allocation from Council Member Oliver Koppell, the first and third floors of the school were equipped over the summer with a brand new air conditioning system – offering students relief from heat and air filtration to help asthmatics.

Also over the summer, Principal Maria Quail went to the University of Connecticut to learn how to implement the Enrichment Program into the PS 8 curriculum. The program allows students and teachers to choose projects and subjects that interest them throughout the school year. This will allow students to “develop expertise in those fields that they choose,” Quail says.

Character will also be a focus this year, Quail says. She wants her students to take responsibility for their actions and focus on building a strong community within the school walls. To accomplish that, Quail wants to tie everything into the student council so students can police and watch over each other.

“With so much going on in the world, on the streets, and with gangs, we want to develop our own little society where kids realize their actions have consequences,” Quail says. “We want our kids to really take ownership of it.”

PS 94 – Kings College Place.
“Everything is good,” says Principal Diane Daprocida, who is entering her second year at PS 94.

The school received a grant from a private arts foundation and will be implementing the Project Arts program, which will include lots of dancing and visual art instruction and will be “woven into the curriculum,” Daprocida says.

That curriculum will continue to focus on balanced literacy and balanced math, while stressing small group instruction and “mini lessons,” which will allow teachers to meet students where they are, rather than where they should be, Daprocida says.

One thing is certain. PS 94 looks good. They have shiny new paint in the cafeteria and custodians have done a “great job” on the hallways and classrooms. They have lots of new materials and a resurfaced blacktop for students to play on. And this year gym class has returned because PS 94 has hired two new gym teachers.

PS 51/The Bronx New School – Van Cortlandt Avenue East.
The beginning of every day at the Bronx New School starts with a song. Interim Principal Mary Ellen Johnson, who is filling in for Paul Smith while he recovers from a stroke suffered during the summer, says the singing brings kids together and helps build community.

During those early morning sing-alongs, Johnson wants all the students to meet all the teachers. “We want all the teachers to be responsible for all the kids,” she says.

Johnson also wants to bring the outside community into the everyday school experience. Part of the science curriculum will involve a community garden located just around the corner from the Van Cortlandt Avenue school. Johnson will also be inviting community and education leaders to read books to students as part of their Read Aloud program.

“It’s important to have a strong sense of community,” Johnson says.

PS/MS 15 — Andrews Avenue.
“Failure is not an option,” says Eddice Mebane-Griffin, the principal at PS/MS 15 — the Institute for Environmental Learning. She believes all of her 600 students can, and will, go on to college and achieve their dreams.

Besides a new food and nutrition program for kindergartners, first and second graders, not much is new at PS 15 this year, says Mebane-Griffin. They will continue to follow the city’s standard curriculums for math and reading.

Of course the Jaguars, PS 15’s celebrated track team, will continue to compete citywide. And the chess team, which placed 10th at the nationals last year, will try to improve on their impressive performance.

PS 280 — Mosholu Parkway.
As part of the Bloomberg/Klein administration’s ambitious reform plan, Principal Gary LaMotta’s school is becoming an Empowerment school year, which means a “greater sense of autonomy and a greater sense of responsibility,” LaMotta says.

As part of the Empowerment program, the principal says the school will be doing more student assessments, created by school officials, which will provide teachers and administrators with more data for analysis. That analysis will allow teachers to know more about student needs and tailor curriculum specifically to individual strengths and learning styles.

“It allows us to be much more creative with how we implement our curriculum,” LaMotta says.

The school will also be completing its transformation into a full-fledged K-8. The first class of eighth graders will be graduating from PS 280 next June. The additional grades have forced the school to invade their neighbor, MS 80, where some of PS 280’s classes are held. Enrollment is now up to 785.

MS 45 — Lorillard Place.
There is a big emphasis on creating well-rounded students at PS 45, says the school’s principal, Anne Marie Giordano. In addition to growing academically, Giordano wants her students to grow “socially and emotionally.”

The principal says she wants to include more project-based learning, so kids can get away from the “rote everyday stuff.” That includes building mock bridges and other engineering projects. It will also include adding more art and music to the everyday curriculum.

Now, with enrollment up to 1,350 students, Giordano wants to redefine the school’s “core values and beliefs.” She wants to be more inclusive of the entire school community. “We want to make everybody feel like they have a vested interest in our school,” she says adding that they have long-term goals as well. “We believe everyone should go to college and there’s no reason why not.”

PS 291 — Andrews Avenue.
Principal Carlos Velez says he is excited that his school is becoming an Empowerment school, which will allow him to “look at curriculum and to use tools that will better support our school.”

He’s also looking forward to the school’s continued collaboration with Dream Yard, a non-profit arts organization. Consultants from the group work together with teachers and students to put on performances, such as plays and art shows.

This year, Velez welcomes seven new teachers and a new parent coordinator, Rafael Sandoval, to PS 291’s “lovely and committed staff.”

Chess, as always, will play a big role in students’ development at PS 291. “The level of concentration is amazing,” Velez says about his little chess masters. “We are all equal here on the chess field.” Last year, the school’s chess team won the national chess championship in Denver.

Our Lady of Refuge – Briggs Avenue.
This fall, the North Fordham Catholic school is instituting Earobics, an early literacy program that will aid younger students. The program provides pre-kindergarten through third graders with individualized Internet instruction that is easily monitored by teachers.

Also new this year is a Latin class for sixth graders, which will be taught by Msgr. John Jenik. “It gives them a sense of the roots of the English language,” says Refuge’s principal of 16 years, Marivel Colon.

Colon also says the school is trying to bring back a basketball program, which has been absent the past few years. Students are only allowed to participate if they have passing grades, she says.

And now, thanks to money from the city’s Department of Education, Refuge will be providing all of its students with free breakfast and lunch.

PS 246 – Grand Concourse.
Thanks to a grant from Deutsche Bank, PS 246 will have perhaps the coolest play yard in the Bronx. Students designed the yard with the help of landscape architects and it will include a rubber track, a garden and an outdoor classroom. The bad news is that until the yard is completed (construction began early this past summer and should be done by the end of November), students have nowhere to run around.

That’s why neighbors may see members of the Roadrunners, PS 246’s track team, running through the streets for practice at 6:30 a.m.

As for academics, Assistant Principal Shelly Pope says teachers are working with Teachers’ College at Columbia to learn new techniques to institute monthly themes into their reading curriculum. In September, teachers will begin talking to students about the “writerly life.”

Pope is most excited, however, about the school’s work with the Student Success Center, which is funded by the Robin Hood Foundation. Students are evaluated at the Center in Manhattan (80 last year, 80 more this year) and then teachers are given the assessments. They use the assessments to decide where to place students and how best to teach them. “It’s helped us in so many ways,” Pope says.

Jonas Bronck Academy (Manhattan College Campus).
According to Jonas Bronck Academy Principal Maria Esponda, the most important goal at Jonas Bronck is nothing less than “trying to get kids to think out of the box and get them to look at their role in history.”

That’s a big goal, but this is a school that aims high. Now in its third year, JBA, located on the campus of Manhattan College, is transforming itself into a full-fledged college prep school.

“We’re really setting the stage for that,” Esponda says. “We have experience, we have a plan, we’ve done workshops — we’re ready.”

She also wants students to start taking ownership of their education. Over the summer, the school gave the book “Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens,” to all incoming seventh and eighth graders. Then on the first day of school, kids went on an all-day retreat to talk about the book and how they can use some of the traits and habits they learned about.

“It has set a nice tone,” Esponda says. “They’re going to be prepared to be even more successful.”

PS 56 — East 207th Street.
Principal Priscilla Sheeran is busy improving her school. She doesn’t have a lot of time to speak with reporters. It’s probably one of the reasons PS 56 received special recognition from the state as one of 71 schools “making rapid and positive improvements.”

Consistency has also been crucial. The school has had very little staff turnover and the building hasn’t undergone any massive renovations.

The main goal for this year is integrating science and social studies into literacy and math Sheeran says. That way, theoretically, students will be carrying over what they learned in one class and applying it to what they’re doing in another class.

PS 20 — Webster Avenue.
With the additional funding it received as being one of 322 schools selected to be part of the Empowerment Program, PS 20 is going shopping. Administrators are buying new uniforms for the entire school and parents will no longer be burdened with the cost and time it takes to buy their own polo shirts and dark slacks. Plus, new uniforms “gives a cohesive look to the school,” says Assistant Principal Juan Flores, now in his ninth year at the school. “It has an impact on how the kids see the school.”

Flores is also happy to announce that PS 20 will have its first class of about 30 pre-schoolers, pushing enrollment over the 1,300-student mark.

Improving reading levels will be a key focus at PS 20 this year, Flores says. There is a new librarian, Lisa Protzmann, who is instituting an “open access” policy to provide students and teachers with more library time for special projects. In addition, PS 20 will continue with the federally funded Reading First program, which decreased the number of lowest-level readers by half last year.

Flores says they are always trying to identify different learning styles and adapting curriculum.

“We’re constantly changing to meet the needs of the kids in the neighborhood,” Flores said. “We’ll try anything.”