First day of school brings familiar faces and new beginnings to Tracey Magnet School

NORWALK, Conn. — Students returned to Tracey Magnet School on Wednesday for the first day of the 2026-27 school year, greeted by cookies, hugs, and a building buzzing with energy.

Families lined up outside the 1939-era school on Camp Street as buses rolled in, and Principal Lindsay Esposito welcomed students back for her fifth year leading the school and seventh year working there overall.

“What I’m most excited about is the growth I’m going to see from now to the end of the year, not only with our students but with our staff as well,” Esposito said.

Tracey is the only National School of Character in Connecticut, a distinction Esposito said shapes everything the school does. Staff focus on more than academics, she said, working to build students’ character, sense of belonging and social and emotional skills alongside their reading and math lessons.

“We really focus on not just educating the child academically, but the whole child,” Esposito said.

Each grade level takes on a service learning project during the year. In the past, students have volunteered at shelters and helped clean the Silvermine River. This year, Esposito said, the focus shifts closer to home, with projects centered on the school and its families.

Most of Tracey’s teachers returned this year, though the school did hire several new staff members over the summer. Esposito said the mix of experience and new energy has the school ready for the year ahead.

“We’ve had so many initiatives that we’ve learned together over the years,” she said. “We just have to make a couple tweaks, make a couple adjustments, but we’re ready.”

The school has about 450 students this year, down from roughly 490 when Esposito started, reflecting a broader enrollment decline across the district. Classes average about 20 students. Third- and fourth-graders switch classrooms throughout the day to help prepare them for the transition to middle school.

Parent Jalin Sead Sr. dropped off his two sons, including Adrian, who is starting kindergarten, and said the school’s focus on character has made a real difference for his family. His older son, Jalin Sead Jr., is also a student at Tracey.

“With the character school, with the pride, it teaches them great stuff,” Sead Sr. said. “They’ve been able to focus on any of the things that if they need help with reading or writing, they did it. I’ve been really happy with everybody here.”

Jalin Sead Jr., arriving for his first day of third grade, said he felt a little nervous about not knowing his classmates yet, but was looking forward to science class and hoped to start a science project this year.

Esposito said the school recently renovated its library and added a new gym, part of ongoing efforts to update the decades-old building. She said Tracey also runs an after-school program until 6 p.m. and offers preschool classes.

Above all, Esposito said, she wants families to feel confident sending their children through Tracey’s doors each morning.

“I want our parents to know that their child is going to be safe,” she said. “We are going to love them like they are our own, and we are going to push and challenge them to make them the best possible little Tracey Cubs that they can be.”