Reflecting on a September without school

Like many Long Islanders, my stomach is usually tied up in knots this time of year, triggered by the annual transition from a carefree summer vacation to the anxious excitement of the back-to-school season. Many of you may be feeling this now. But not me, not this time. This is the first September that I won’t be part of this annual ritual since nursery school. When you’ve been doing something every year for more than five decades, it’s a hard habit to break. Wake me up when September ends.

Technically, this is the second academic year following my retirement as the Great Neck Public Schools technology director, but it’s my first on the sidelines. Last fall, I resumed working there part time to help implement their reopening plan and provide technical assistance for remote education. Retirement amid a pandemic felt like I was abandoning the school community I had served for so long, so I was grateful for the opportunity to assuage my guilt and continue to contribute at a critical time. A year later, my absence feels conspicuous.

My belly is calm because I’m insulated from this seasonal change, but my thoughts are not. I feel a profound kinship with Long Island students, parents, teachers and administrators as they return to school. I am concerned for them given the current circumstances, but I’m also reliving the excitement and promise of the dozens of school re-openings I experienced during my childhood, as a parent and as an educator.

I don’t remember my own first day of school, but I vividly recall my first school day as a teacher in Elmont. That was when Newsday and I first became inextricably intertwined. A photo of my 22-year-old self setting up a computer in Covert Avenue Elementary School graced page 7 of the Sept. 4, 1984 issue. It is a cherished keepsake because it declared computers as a new basic subject and because it marked the launch of my 36-year career as an educational technology leader.

Of course, I can’t forget the first day of school for my own kids. It was in 1998 and 2000 when I helped them onto buses for their first day of kindergarten at George A. Jackson Elementary School in Jericho. I often take walks past the school and can still picture them as they looked then in their new school clothes, carrying their excitement and colorful backpacks.

But I’ve spent the most first days of school helping Great Neck South Middle School sixth-graders find their lockers and classrooms. It wasn’t part of my job description, but it was rewarding and joyful nonetheless. That’s what September has always meant to me — the renewal of back-to-school experiences reflected in these quintessential Long Island communities.

This year, I will be marked absent on the 2021 school calendar, but I will be present in spirit. I’ve learned many lessons over the years from school, not from textbooks, tests or technology, but from classmates, colleagues and connections. Learning is a social experience, and the first day of school renews that essence of collaboration for each generation. Even the challenges of a pandemic cannot dampen its significance.

I appreciate this back-to-school season from a different perspective now, one without butterflies. Embrace these moments today and you’ll always cherish the memories.

Reader Marc Epstein lives in Jericho.