Head of School Sep 1, 2023
Last week, some of our kindergarten students heard a charming story called “School’s First Day of School” by Adam Rex.
It tells the story of a newly built elementary school building which, in the last quiet days of summer, talks to the school janitor about what to expect. “Soon,” the janitor tells him, “the teachers will come, and then you will be filled with children.”
Sure enough, when the first day arrives, the children do come “and they were more than the school could possibly have imagined.” At first, he is annoyed, “they got everywhere” and “they opened and closed all my doors and lockers,” but when “they climbed delightedly on his jungle gym,” the new building begins to understand “what he is for.”
Of course, some of the older children grumbled, “this place stinks” or “I hate school,” and the once-proud edifice “sagged a little.” When he saw “a very small girl with freckles” who ran from her mother and “didn’t want to come inside,” the school whispered to himself, “I must be awful.”
But later “when the children were in their chairs…the school started to relax.” At one lunch table, a boy told a funny joke and another “laughed so hard that milk came out of his nose,” and “even the girl with freckles” laughed and thought the “nose milk” was very funny. And when the children learned about shapes and that “the square is actually a special kind of rectangle,” the school thought, “Wow, I did not know that.”
At the end of the day, all the children drew pictures of the school, and when he saw the drawing done by the “little freckled girl,” the school thought proudly, “It looks just like me … It’s like she’s known me all my life.” And when the teacher chose that picture and hung it on the board with a push pin, the school said, “Ouch,” but “didn’t mind the pain, not really.”
In the evening, the school shares its excitement with his friend the janitor and asks, “Do you think you could invite everyone back tomorrow? Especially that little freckled girl?” And the janitor says, “Yes,” and adds, “you get to be a school, and that’s lucky.” And the school “thought he was probably right about that.”
When I heard the story read aloud, I felt an instant frisson of recognition, the same rush of emotion I have felt myself for the last 46 years.
For weeks each summer, the school’s hallways lie dormant and hushed until, all at once, they spring to life, animated once again by the excitement of young learners. Some students approach school with eagerness and confidence; others begin feeling nervous, even fearful. But, as the new school year gains momentum, these once quiet corridors ring with the laughter of students, brimming with the joy of learning and of being together once again. It makes this work very, very rewarding! Have a great school year!
Christopher P. Garten
Head of School
Be sure to scroll down for key dates.
Key Dates & Events
Monday, Sept. 4 — Labor Day, No School
Wednesday, Sept. 6 — Parent Community Board Meeting, 8:30 a.m.
Friday, Sept. 15 — Rosh Hashana Begins at Sundown
Saturday-Sunday, Sept. 16-17 — Rosh Hashana
Friday-Saturday, Sept. 22-23 — Homecoming
Friday, Sept. 22 — Family Picnic, 5-7 p.m.
Sunday, Sept. 24 — Yom Kippur Begins at Sundown
Monday, Sept. 25 — Yom Kippur