HARTFORD, Conn. — Summer just started last month, but it’s the first day of school for Capital Preparatory Magnet School in Hartford. The school welcomed the kids with open arms Monday with live African music and greeters outside the school.
“They know that this is home, and so when they come back, it’s like, welcome home. And that’s what this morning is about. Welcome home," said Kitsia Ferguson, the Principal at Capital Preparatory Magnet School.
The school is the only one in the area that's in session 11 months out of the year. And once their parents dropped them off, many of the kids ran into the doors of the building, excited to start the day.
“I've been waiting for school for when I got out," said Jamiah Waugh, a second-grader at Capital Prep.
Parents were just as excited, it's convenient for them to have their children at school in the summer.
"It’s just wonderful, I don’t have to pay for day care," said Zaina Sulleman, a single mom of five children.
However, there's another bigger reason Sulleman and so many other parents chose Capital Prep. It has a social justice theme.
“This is the best place to learn. So you have to be in society, you have to know how to behave and how to help others in the society so, that’s why I bring them here," Sulleman said.
That theme has only grown stronger since the school opened in the early 2000s, expanding from grades 6-12, not to pre-K through 5th grade.
“That’s part of the social justice plight of being able to give access and shift resources around so that everyone has an opportunity," Ferguson said.
And this year, the school has an additional theme, they're hoping they can claim Capital back from the impacts COVID had on schooling. They started that theme with the welcoming party Monday morning.
“Home. Makes me feel home," Sulleman said.
Julia LeBlanc is a reporter at FOX61 News. She can be reached at jleblanc@fox61.com Follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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