Students went back to school on Sept. 8 in what many officials and parents have said was a particularly easy first day. "It was probably one of the smoothest school openings in anyone's recollection," said Joel DiBartolomeo, a local instructional superintendent for the area, last week.

The city unveiled another major push to create small schools last week that includes four highly-anticipated local projects: a high school focusing on community activism, a bilingual high school, a new middle school at MS 143, and permanent status for the Jonas Bronck Academy. The new initiatives, which will be housed in preexisting facilities, joined 49 other projects citywide that will debut in September. The Bronx gains the lion's share of the new schools.