The opening of Pittsburgh Schenley High School's "new" location appeared to go smoothly this morning, the start of the 2008-09 school year for most Pittsburgh Public Schools.

In a highly controversial move, the city school board closed Schenley's historic Oakland building for maintenance reasons at the end of the last school year and reassigned students to the 33-year-old Reizenstein building in Shadyside.

To convert the former middle school building into a high school, officials launched a $5 million improvement project that included new lighting, paint and floor tiles. Superintendent Mark Roosevelt was on hand to welcome students and faculty members this morning.

Several students said they had put the controversy over the Oakland building behind them.

"At least we got A-C," senior Keith Smith of Homewood said. Reizenstein is air-conditioned; the Oakland building was not.

Eight city schools opened Aug. 18, and about 60 others opened this morning, including the new university-prep school in the Hill District. The school, which has a partnership with the University of Pittsburgh, opened with about 150 ninth-graders and in coming years will evolve into a school for grades six through 12.