This year I propose to highlight different groups of our classified staff during the Staff Reports section of our Neah-Kah-Nie Board meetings. I welcome any input you'd like to have included in these remarks. The following remarks come from what I have shared with them so far, and I will continue to share with you as the year progresses.
---- Laurie DeKlyen, Chapter President
(from the November board meeting)
What the heck do those custodians do when staff and students are gone?
At one of the early school board meetings this year, a board member commented on how nice everything looked. We all know how hard our custodial staff worked all summer long. Wiping down walls, cleaning carpets, stripping and rewaxing floors, and otherwise deep cleaning the buildings kept them very busy. Among other things, they also helped move teachers and other staff from room to room or building to building, built new bookshelves, and put a new steam line in at Garibaldi – which I understand involved breaking up concrete, digging ditches, dealing with contractors and making the lawn look like nothing had ever happened. And this in time for school to begin on September 4th.
I really appreciate how helpful custodial staff is all year round. Got a broken chair? Chances are that a custodian will be trying to fix it that evening. Got a kid bleeding from a ball to the nose, or a kid who just threw up? A custodian will be there to clean up the spill. Need to have a fire or earthquake drill? The custodian will be there to make sure everyone has left the building. And over the years, sometimes it is the custodian who makes the connection with a student – a connection which has helped them navigate school and the rest of life, a connection which makes that student feel valued.
(from the January board meeting)
Being a secretary - it's more than Typing 101.
The beginning of the year rush, with lots of students enrolling and withdrawing, has died down, and at least one set of report cards has been generated and sent out. Secretaries have matched names with faces for not only the students new to the district, but those new to each school. They have rolled with additions of programs (such as School Messenger) and additional reporting requirements . Since we’ll be getting a new student information system called Synergy next year, we’ll be participating in a great deal of training throughout the year, and we’re really hoping that the bugs get worked out by then.
When you think “secretary”, you may have an image of someone answering phones, taking messages and working on a computer, but those things only scratch the surface. Secretaries are the first faces parents and members of the public see. They take the pleasant and not-so-pleasant phone calls. Secretaries insure that grade reports go out, legal documents get filed, and student records follow the students as they move from school to school.
Our secretaries have to become well-versed in everything from the district’s accounting practices to legal matters regarding custody; from medication dispensing and immunization requirements to state attendance and truancy laws. Secretaries navigate different and ever-changing software, and every year it seems there are more reports which need to be made to the state.
And, of course, the secretaries interact with the students. If a student acts out, usually he or she is sent to the office. If the student doesn’t have enough money to eat, it’s usually the secretary who tries to follow up, tries to solve the problem. If a student is sick or injured, it’s usually the secretary who takes temperatures, and gives out ice packs, bandaids and TLC. Secretaries play a vital part in the lives of our students.