Staff works behind the scenes
John Heim
Wednesday, October 4, 2006
EVERY GREAT movie has a large film crew working behind the scenes so the actors and actresses can focus on their lines.
Schools also have a large support crew that keeps our system running smoothly so teachers can focus their attention on their students. Our classified support staff is not as large as the certified teaching staff and they don’t get near the attention afforded teachers. However, no school or district can function without them.
Classified support staff touches the lives of thousands of children each day in Emporia . Their influence starts when students board the bus in the morning. They are greeted by a bus driver who has the responsibility to get the children to school and back home safely each day.
Our bus drivers are required to complete a rigorous 60-hour training program and obtain a Commercial Driver’s License before they start transporting kids to school and activities. Our team of drivers arrives at the bus park before 6 a.m. each day to start their routes, and our activity drivers are some of the last school employees to arrive home at night once they return students from out-of-town trips and competitions. Our drivers transport more than 2,000 students nearly 2,000 miles each day.
Once students arrive at school in the morning, one of their first stops is likely the cafeteria where they have breakfast. Our food service department is headquartered at Emporia High School where lunches are prepared for the entire district. The staff arrives at 6 a.m. to begin the day’s food preparation. Each building also has servers who prepare and serve breakfast and serve lunch. The department serves an average of 4,500 lunches, 1,200 breakfasts and 800 after-school snacks each day. Many families rely on these meals to keep their children from going hungry during the week.
As the school day begins, the students will encounter the secretary who knows everything that’s going on in a building at any one time. For most parents, the secretary is their first point of contact either on the telephone or when they visit the school. Their duties are not all in the clerical and scheduling categories. They also help administer medication as directed by our nurses, provide first aid for sick children, and monitor the daily traffic in and out of the building.
All buildings are staffed with custodians who keep the buildings clean and safe inside and out, and help teachers and principals transform a gym into a lunch room in a matter of minutes. They make sure equipment is where it’s needed and tend to spills and accidents at a moments notice. At the district level, a maintenance crew is responsible for keeping the buildings and equipment repaired and in safe working order. For both of these groups, the work does not stop when the students go home. They work 12 months a year to keep up with the cleaning and maintenance tasks required of an organization our size. These two groups of employees maintain buildings, grounds and equipment valued at more than $136 million.
In our classrooms and libraries, teachers rely on the help of aides to assist with lesson preparation and the individual needs of students. Paraeducators are assigned to work with special education students, and in some cases they are assigned to a single child the entire day. Each school has a building support technician who is trained to use the technology in the school and trouble shoot any problems. At our eight elementary and intermediate schools, these four employee groups – teacher aides, paraeducators, library clerks and building support technicians – must have a minimum of 48 college credit hours or they must pass an approved test.
At the district level, our technology staff is responsible for maintaining our vast network of instructional, communication and administrative technology. The district office also houses the accountants, clerks, secretaries and assistants who maintain the financial records that account for how we spend tax dollars. They keep the bills paid and our schools staffed with highly qualified teachers. Our purchasing staff makes sure we have food supplies for the meals, paper for the copying machines, and books in the classrooms and libraries. The district level support staff also must maintain all the documentation and produce the countless reports required by federal, state and local agencies that oversee public education.
None of these jobs can be taken lightly and each one has a tie to the classroom. This important work does not go unnoticed by administrators and board of education members. I hope parents, teachers and other community stakeholders will take time to thank our classified support staff for the positive influence they have on the lives of Emporia’s children.