Hi folks. Now that the holidays are over, I'm back with my column, which will appear once a month on Sundays.

I hope that all of you had a very enjoyable holiday season and that you were able to share at least some of it with family members. I realize, of course, that sometimes it is not possible when family members live a considerable distance away. My wife and I have had that experience. However, I hope that you were able to spend time with some family members and also with friends.

My subject this time is the schools of Auburn. Those of you who grew up in Auburn attended some of these schools and to have them mentioned will certainly bring back memories.

When I started school, there were 11 public elementary schools, one private school and five parochial schools. This was a total of 17 elementary schools in town - wow!

Nine of the public schools were named after the streets on which they were located. They were James Street, Fulton Street, Seymour Street, Franklin Street, North Division Street, Madison Avenue, South Street, Evans Street and Genesee Street schools.

The other two schools, which were in identical buildings, were Seward School on Swift Street and Lincoln School on North Fulton Street.

Most of these schools went from kindergarten to sixth grade. At least two, Genesee Street School and Madison Avenue School, only went as far as fourth grade. There may have been others, but I know of these two because the students came to the school that I was attending, James Street School, for the fifth and sixth grades.

Before 1932, when Auburn Junior High was established, grades seven and eight were in South Street School, which was on the corner of Chapman Avenue, and possibly another school. If any of you readers know of any other public school that had grades seven and eight in those days, I would appreciate your letting me know. I would also like to know if South Street School had any other grades besides seven and eight, and I will pass this information along in my next column.

I didn't get to go to South Street School myself because when I completed the sixth grade at James Street School, everyone was going to Auburn Junior High School on Garden Street for grades seven and eight, and also grade nine, the first year of high school. When the new Auburn Senior High School (now East Middle School) was built on Franklin Street in 1932 with grades 10, 11 and 12, the old Academic High School became Auburn Junior High.

James Street School, which I attended from kindergarten to sixth grade, was located on the corner of James and Orchard streets, where the post office parking lot is today. It was a very attractive two-story, two-wing building with arched windows on the second floor and was designed by noted architect, Julius Schweinfurth, a native of Auburn. It had three entrances, one on James Street, one on Orchard Street and one where the two wings joined.

Of course, it didn't have the facilities that today's elementary schools have. There was no auditorium, no gymnasium and no cafeteria. The hallway served as our auditorium and also the kindergarten because it was the only room with some open space. The school yard served as our gym when weather permitted and we didn't need a cafeteria because we walked home for lunch.

The private elementary school that I mentioned was Logan School, which was on North Street and was later moved to South Street.

The five parochial schools of that period were St. Aloysius, Holy Family, St. Mary's, St. Alphonsus and St. Hyacinth. In a few years, they were joined by SS. Peter and Paul.

This about does it for this time, but I will continue with the subject of Auburn schools in my next column. Hope you join me then.

Carmelo Signorelli is an Auburn resident who enjoys reminiscing about the good ol' days