It's back to school week in the Lower Hudson Valley. Here's what schools are facing

Students head back to school this week in the Lower Hudson Valley, with the first districts opening their doors Tuesday.

From the aftereffects of the pandemic to artificial intelligence, school districts face a host of challenges, many of which are constantly evolving.

First days vary by district. Eastchester, North Rockland and Carmel are among districts welcoming students back Tuesday; New Rochelle, Mount Vernon and Suffern, Wednesday; and Yonkers, Mount Vernon and East Ramapo, Thursday.

"I think this is year is going to be better than my previous years," 15-year-old Ethan De Losreyes said before heading inside Eastchester High School for the first day of his junior year. "I have a motivation this year to do better in school and to represent the school for the tennis team."

Losreyes said he wants to get into a good college. "This year counts the most, so I just want to try my hardest," he said.

Constance d'Epinay was also focused on academics.

"I'm excited about all the extra classes, like I'm taking forensics, stuff like that," d'Epinay, a 17-year-old Eastchester senior said.

Eastchester sophomores Angelo Gabriele, 15, and Bear Allison, 16, were both most excited for the pep rally and a little worried about how challenging some classes might be — Gabriele was worried about English class and Allison about AP classes.

"Big workload coming into 10th grade," Allison said. "Hopefully we can get it going, get the grind on."

At West Haverstraw Elementary in the North Rockland school district, art teacher Karen Baumann was fixing a “welcome to school” sign, which provided a photo backdrop for plenty of families. She and other staff dotted the walkway of the K-3 building with pinwheels for an added festive touch before the buses arrived.

Kate Hernandez drove in Adrian Santiago for the first day of kindergarten. “Tomorrow he will be on the bus,” she said as Adrian headed into the brick building for the inaugural school day.

Shantall Matos was starting third grade. She said she missed school and that her favorite subject was math. Her career goals? “I want to be a dancer.”

Here is a look at what school districts are looking at this year.

The post-pandemic period

Following the pandemic, educators are still addressing the long-term effects, including what some call "learning loss," or stunted academic progress for some students.

Educators have their hands full as they try to understand and address the social and emotional needs of kids, often made worse by the pandemic. Other factors that have long separated students, like poverty and racial inequities, have widened since the pandemic.

And now, New York is seeing another rise in COVID cases.

Culture wars continue

Districts are also welcoming back students at a time when policies and lessons around race and gender are highly politicized. State officials emphasized inclusivity in recent guidance on such issues. The guidance included how to handle challenges to books and to transgender students' bathroom use and participation in sports.

The New York Civil Liberties Union also offered New York's school districts a step-by-step guide on what to do when they get challenges to books and curriculum.

Bilingual students and new arrivals

Many districts in the northern suburbs of New York City have for years seen increasing numbers of immigrant students who can benefit from bilingual support.

Several districts have also reported an increased number of students over the past few years who are recent arrivals to the country and in need of English language as well as academic and social supports.

East Ramapo will continue its Newcomers Academy, started in 2022 after nearly 1,000 students, all new immigrants in need of language support, registered within the first couple months of the 2022-2023 academic year.

Some students learning English fell even further behind during the pandemic, causing some districts, like Ossining, to create bilingual after-school programs.

While Lower Hudson Valley districts haven't seen asylum-seeking families relocated from New York City, four counties upstate will welcome some 250 kids from asylum-seeking families. As of April, New York City schools had enrolled 14,000 kids from asylum-seeking families.

The arrival of artificial Intelligence

If AI wasn't on students' families' minds before, it certainly is now. AI has quickly become a hot topic for educators as they try to figure out how they can incorporate to benefits students while protecting students' personal data.

The talk in education revolves around trying to keep up with ever-evolving technology. ChatGPT's rapid rise in prominence has educators scrambling to understand how it works and if they can use it in classrooms.

"I think it might be more distracting for people," d'Epinay in Eastchester said, especially since students are on computers so much. Still, d'Epinay said it was still a helpful tool.

A state report released last month reported that schools have hardly used AI to identity or track students with handprints, retina/iris patterns, DNA sequencing, or voice or gait recognition. But some districts showed interest in using facial recognition technology in the future.

Contact Diana Dombrowski at ddombrowski@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @domdomdiana.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Back to school 2023 begins in Lower Hudson Valley NY. What to know