Riverside School, Schenectady, NY
Audio Excerpts | Current Photo | Historic Picture

Interview with: Gioia Ottaviano
Interviewed by: Josh Flagg, Anna Carbone, Emily Carbone & Nancy Gifford on 5/22/01

Gioia: My name is Gioia Ottaviano and I've lived in Schenectady all my life, taught here, went to Oneida Junior High, which was 7th-9th grade at the time and I am here to talk to you about Proctors, Riverside School and anything else you would like to know, that I know about Schenectady.

Anna: What do you remember most about Riverside School?
Gioia: It was a regular school with classrooms. I taught on the second floor. It was my first job, so I can remember where I was. It was on the side toward the Indian. Fourth grade class. The seats were nailed down. I would supposed there were maybe 40-45 seats, maybe not, but they weren't all filled.

The children sat all facing the front. There were boards on all sides. Windows. The bathrooms were in the basement. It was in 1946. I was there about 5 years. I taught 4th grade, then I went down and taught first grade and then moved over and taught 3rd Grade. I used to like to move around.

But the story I want to tell you is that its name is Riverside School, but there were a lot of Italian people who lived in that area at that time. They wanted the name of the school to be named after a great Italian poet named Dante, who wrote very interesting material a long, long time ago, Middle Ages I suppose. His name is spelled, D-A-N-T-E, Dante. People still read his material in English and in Italian and all over the world. It has been translated.

Well my grandfather's name was Dente, spelled D-E-N-T-E. There is only one letter changed. Dante, Dente. So the Italian people in the neighborhood went to the Board of Education. My grandfather was a committeeman, which meant he helped people in elections. He was very active and I think he was a Republican.

So, the Italian people went to the Board of Education and said they would like to have the school in our neighborhood named after Dante. The president of the Board of Education didn't know who Dante was, and said, "What? Name that school after a Third Ward politician?"

So the school was not named after Dante or Dente, but was named Riverside School. It is right down by the river. When I was teaching there, there was a hole in the fence, it was not really a hole. The fence was built so you could walk around to the river. I used to love taking my classes, especially when boats were passing by. You could see boats, trains and cars on the bridge. You could see cars on the bridge, boats on the river and trains going by on the other bridge, all at once.

 

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