Students filed back into city schools Tuesday, for the first day of "Summer Rising": a free program combining academics and recreation.  More than 200,000 children — or about one out of five public school students — have signed up.

"I'm feeling super good, I'm happy about the summer, to come back to my principal, my friends and everyone,” said Lydia Marius, a Summer Rising student at P.S. 6 in Flatbush.

What You Need To Know

  • The city's new Summer Rising program launched across the five boroughs Tuesday

  • The combination of summer school and summer camp is free and open to all children

  • But some parents encountered wait lists while signing up, and schools scrambled to deal with a staffing crunch

Summer Rising combines summer school, usually run by the Education Department, and summer camp, usually run by the Department of Youth and Community Development, into one extended program any student can sign up for. At P.S. 6, that will mean academics from 8 a.m. to noon, and recreation from noon to 6 p.m.

"I think it's gonna be school some of the time, and next it’s gonna be fun. There's always a time for everything,” Lydia said.

Mayor Bill de Blasio has touted the program as a way to get students back on track before schools fully open in September.

"A lot of kids did not attend in-person instruction during the school year,” de Blasio said. “This is the first time they're getting back together with their friends and their teachers.”

That was true for six-year-old Kelly Reid.

"I hope I get to see my old friends,” she said.

"We've done a year of remote learning, and that was a lot,” her mom, Aisha Reid, said. “I know she wants to be back with her friends and her teachers."

Before class began, the mayor and Schools Chancellor Meisha Porter joined students in a morning rendition of the Cha Cha Slide.

But much like the mayor's dance moves, the program's roll-out wasn't smooth.

Last week, many children were still on wait lists for programs near their home, prompting the education department to instruct schools to increase their capacity. That left principals and the community-based organizations that are jointly running the programs scrambling to find enough staff for the launch.

"We had a great interest, which we are excited about, and so we staffed up really quickly to meet that interest,” Porter said. “We've been talking about this is the bridge back to September. And so we knew we needed to make an investment to make sure we were ready.”

Now, the pressure is on to make the program a success. Just ask 11-year-old Tyler.

"I'm hoping it's going to be fun, because it's summer. Like, if they don't do a good job, they're wasting our summer time,” he said.

And nobody wants that.

Families can still register for Summer Rising at schools.nyc.gov.