17 years without a missed day

The Czerwin family didn’t set out to break any records, but over the years, they seem to have done just that.

All three sons of Oceanside residents Elliot and Pamela Czerwin — Adam, 22, Benjamin, 20, and David, 18 — have attended local schools from kindergarten to 12th grade, and none of them ever missed a day of school over the course of 17 years.

“This wasn’t something we planned, said Elliot. “It certainly wasn’t our life’s mission. The kids are healthy; they eat and live right. This wasn’t our obsession.”

In fact, Czerwin added, “Most of the time, we didn’t even know we were doing it. It just happened day by day.”

Their closest call, he recounted, came when David, who is set to graduate from Oceanside High School on Friday, went to a doctor for a checkup on a Friday afternoon four years ago, when he was a freshman — and found out he had juvenile diabetes. He was taken to Long Island Jewish Hospital for further tests, where he was shown how to give himself insulin, and then sent home. He was back in school the following Monday.

“He went from the needle to a pump in a few months,” his father said proudly, “but he still managed to play varsity football.”

In fact, now that the string of perfect attendance is ending, Elliot said that his family is “collectively proud” of its achievement. “This family has always had a good work ethic,” he said. “The day after [Hurricane] Sandy devastated our home, we were all up and tearing things apart, getting ready to rebuild.”

Donna Kraus, a spokeswoman for the Oceanside schools, confirmed that all three Czerwin brothers had gone 13 straight years without a single absence. She added that Adam was honored for doing it, but that the district no longer tracks that statistic. “It became something of a contest,” Kraus said, “and kids were coming to school sick. We don’t want to encourage that.”

But she readily acknowledged that three students from the same family with perfect attendance are unusual.

Adam is now in the MBA program at St. John’s University. Benjamin is in his third year at St. John’s. And in September, Adam will start his freshman year at — you guessed it — St. John’s.

Will they continue perfect attendance through four years of college? So far, Adam and Benjamin have. “If you’re not in school,” said their father, “you’re not going to learn.”