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It’s not just children who are heading back to school today. Every year, Schools Chancellor Joel Klein takes reporters on a five-borough tour of the first day of school. Anna reported to the press van outside Tweed Courthouse at 6:45 a.m. and will be filing dispatches all day. 

Quote of the day: Asked (again) about his position on swine flu by a television reporter, Klein said, “I’m against it.”

A class at Staten Island Tech

2 p.m.: Classes are buzzing at Staten Island Tech, a specialized high school with about 1,000 students. Principal Vincent Maniscalco said the school had weathered the budget cuts easily because enrollment is up since last year. In fact, he said, the school was able to hire seven teachers to replace teachers who retired last year. The school also hired a grant writer last year when it became clear cuts were coming down the pike, Maniscalco said.

Department of Education officials corralled a group of student government members to talk to Klein. David Pfuhler, 17, president of the senior class, said Staten Island Tech has improved in recent years. Comparing it to the city’s other specialized schools, he said, “It’s in the same league, but the style of teaching is different. It’s a friendlier school to learn in.” Another student said the school had seen a recent influx of Brooklynites.

1:35 p.m. Off to Staten Island Tech now. Anna’s the only reporter remaining, so should any major news drop in Richmond County this afternoon, check here for an exclusive.

1:30 p.m.: Nearly every classroom at IS 220 in Sunset Park has an electronic SmartBoard, Anna reports. Principal Loretta Witek said she bought them with the money the state gives to schools it says are in need of improvement. JHS 220 got off that list this year, so there won’t be more money. “I used the money wisely when I had it,” Witek said.

Witek said the budget cuts haven’t hit her school too hard — yet. Witek excessed one teacher over the summer, and she said she’s worried about sustaining after school programs. “I have to see how my budget falls out,” she said.

12:45 p.m. After losing most of its members in Manhattan, the press corps is off to Brooklyn now, where the three remaining reporters will visit IS 220. The latest news is that kids will be bringing home letters about swine flu in their backpacks tonight.

Ms. Hanly reads to fourth-graders at PS 142

11:45 a.m.: Back in Manhattan at PS 142, Ms. Hanly is reading to her class of fourth-graders. The assignment on the easel beside her asked students to jot down on a Post-it note their favorite part of summer. 

10:15 a.m.: Asked about the city’s Race to the Top chances, Klein said, “If we get it, we’ll dance in the streets.”

10 a.m.: Meet some of MS 144′s students. Nigel Canterbury, 11, who wants to be a marine or a technician, said, “It feels good to be back and I love school.” He watched Obama’s speech and liked it, but said, “I was studying to be president, but it was too hard.” Another student aspires to be a judge. A third is working toward graphic design. This is Principal Katina Lotakis’s 41st year at the school. (Incidentally, MS 144 was the first school I visited when I started working at Insideschools in 2005.)

Sixth-graders working this morning at MS 144.

9:35 a.m.: And now they’re found. On to MS 144, where first period is in session and students are already hard at work.

9:25 a.m.: The press van, which was supposed to be at MS 144 at 9 a.m., is currently lost in the Bronx, Anna reports.

9:10 a.m.: Now the press crowd is back in the van, heading to MS 144 in the Bronx. But before finishing at PS 111, Mayor Bloomberg singled out Assemblywoman Catherine Nolan, who was there. “I just want to take two seconds to talk about Cathy Nolan because as you know it was controversial to get mayoral control renewed in Albany, and if there’s anyone who really was a key person in delivering that, it was Cathy,” Bloomberg said.

Then the richest man in New York City revealed what his friends are saying about the schools. “Fewer people leave the city when their kids get to be school age,” Bloomberg said. “Now, my friends, when I talk to them, even my younger friends, and you say, where are your kids going to school? It is not unusual to hear that they’re going to public schools. They are proud that they’re going to public schools.”

A photo shoot at PS 111

8:35 a.m.: The huge, un-air-conditioned auditorium at PS 111, which is filled with a smattering of students, is sweltering, Anna reports. She talked to PS 111′s principal, Randy Seabrook, who said she had to excess three teachers, but not because of budget cuts. The neighborhood is losing population, so PS 111′s enrollment is shrinking, downsizing its budget, Seabrook said. She noted that two of the teachers whose positions she eliminated have found jobs at other schools.

8:25 a.m.: Now reporters are lobbing questions at the mayor. Asked about possible changes to the teachers contract, he said, “The chancellor is not going to negotiate a contract with the UFT right here in front of you.” (More here.) And about the topic on many parents’ minds, swine flu, he said, “Nobody knows if we’ll have another wave or not.”

8:15 a.m.: “All of us up here wish we were back in elementary school,” Mayor Bloomberg says. Later, he says, “I don’t know that I learned a lot, but I enjoyed school. At the same time, Anna reports, “a pile” of new students have shown up at PS 111 to register. Finding room shouldn’t be a problem: According to Insideschools, the school has been operating at just 50 percent capacity.

8 a.m.: The school and union officials pause for a photo op with PS 111′s leaders. Then it’s time for a question and answer session with reporters.

7:45 a.m.: The first stop is at PS 111 in Long Island City, Queens, where the chancellor is being joined by Mayor Bloomberg, UFT President Michael Mulgrew, and principals union president Ernest Logan. Students walking into PS 111 appear “stunned and clearly irritated” by the gaggle of 20-odd reporters and photographers outside the door, Anna reports.

The press crush at PS 111 this morning

7 a.m.: Spotted outside Tweed: A school bus driver asking passersby how to get to the first stop on his route.