When the Internet connection at Public School 29 in Cobble Hill showed signs of trouble more than hour before the inauguration ceremony began, Melanie Raneri-Woods, the Brooklyn elementary school’s principal, immediately began to hustle. There was no way, she said, that her 700 students were going to miss out on history.

Parents who lived nearby were enlisted to lend their living rooms and televisions. A nearby restaurant owner said he could fit up to 50 schoolchildren around his television. A teacher ran home to get his television, figuring he would have an antenna for reception if need be. They figured as a last resort, that they would broadcast the speech from the radio over the seldom-used speaker system at the school.



So it was that Stephanie Manske opened up her brownstone a block away from the school for about 25 fourth-grade students, who sat in arc on the floor. (It was Ms. Manske’s 40th birthday, and she told another parent, Lisa Trollback, that she could not think of a better way to celebrate.)

“They were a little stunned,” said Ms. Trollback, who accompanied the students to Ms. Manske’s home. “But they were just so excited.”

The original plan had been for students to watch in the gymnasium, the auditorium, and a classroom, but the signals never worked in the auditorium and classroom.

By the time the ceremony was under way at 11:30 a.m., the roughly 700 students were firmly planted in front of a screen, just as Principal Maneri-Woods had planned. About 40 had gone to the restaurant, Bocca Lupo, close to 100 students were watching on an old television with the aid of old-fashioned rabbit ears, and another 100 were scattered at homes in the neighborhood. The rest were able to watch in the school’s gym.

At both Ms. Manske’s home and Bocca Lupo, the students mimicked the crowd on TV, standing when they stood, clapping when they clapped.

“This is so monumental that there was just not conceivable that they would miss it,” said Ms. Raneri-Woods, who had traveled to Washington to celebrate this weekend, but wanted to be back at school with her students to watch the inauguration. “The good news is that they were all able to watch the joyful news for themselves.”

“Even if they don’t remember what was said, they aren’t going to forget this day,” Ms. Trollback said.

(Schoolchildren gathered for special assemblies across the city. A spokeswoman for the Education Department said there were reports of problems with the department’s Web access to the inauguration at roughly a dozen city public schools. Similar steps were taken at some of those. Please share your stories below.)