The first day of school

Each year, students are afforded a pretty remarkable opportunity—the chance to have a fresh start.  Following the summer break, a student can enter into a new school year with hopes and aspirations that can either be built upon the successes of the prior year or that can put last year’s struggles in the rearview mirror.  Picking out a new shirt to wear on the first day of school is as much about making a statement that this year will be different than the last than it is about looking good for your friends.  Students get to press this reset button annually from age 5 to age 18 and into college, and for the adults who support them—at school and at home—how fortunate it is for us that we can help our students recognize this opportunity as we prepare them for the learning they will do each year.

As someone who has worked in schools for 15 years, I can tell you that educators also get this same feeling at the dawn of each new school year.  There are not many professions out there that give you the chance for this sort of fresh start each year.  We can draw from what went well and what did not in our work with students in the year gone by and then begin anew several weeks later, wiser for those lessons and eager to enter into a classroom full of equally hopeful students.

I’m also struck at the start of each new school year by another significant ritual of schooling.  On the first day of school, with students and their parents tromping up the steps of the school and filing out of cars in the carpool line, amidst the excitement, there are always a few faces on which looks of anxiety are evident.  A kindergartner, tiny in comparison to the large backpack on her back, peeking out from behind her mom, unsure of whether she wants to go into the school.  A parent sitting in his car watching as his 8th grade student walks up and into the school, tracking him all the way to the door and lingering for just a moment after he enters, then slowly driving off.

Although arrival time at school seems to become mundane the further we get from day one, I know that many of those feelings are there each day, which is why it is so striking to me that parents are able to repeat this drop-off routine day after day.  Each morning, parents turn over their most valuable possessions—their children—to another group of adults for a good portion of the day.  This is really an act of faith, an unspoken message sent daily from parent to teacher that says “I believe you will keep my child safe and help her to learn and grow.”  There’s enormous trust placed in schools, and, at ANCS, we recognize the duty and obligation we have to our students and families because of this trust granted to us.  As we embark upon the journey of the 2014-15 school year, I invite each of you—parents and teachers alike—to consider the ways in which we can work from this basic level of trust to better get to know one another and the needs we have in our roles that will help us to support our students and children.