Versatile secretaries help schools run smoothly
Christopher SciriaAECSD Public Information Specialist
How many jobs include responsibilities as varied as administrator, public relations, taking lunch orders, traffic cop, mail sorter, telephone operator, gatekeeper and child care?
The Auburn Enlarged City School District’s school secretaries, from elementary to the junior high and high school levels handle all of those duties and more every day. It’s a job that features a lot of multitasking and one that can easily be overlooked for how vital it is.
“The secretary is probably as important as the principal, if not more important because they are truly the first person people see when they walk in,” said Owasco Elementary principal Ron Gorney. “She's the one that's setting the tone. Everyone loves a good secretary because there's just so many intangible things that they do. There's a lot of clerical stuff that happens. They are the nuts and bolts of the operation, everything runs through them. They are the central nervous system of the building.”
Genesee Elementary principal Sarah Passarello said secretaries, including her school’s secretary, Jillian Witchey, are an “underappreciated group.”
“Honestly, they do run the buildings, they are at the core of it,” she said. “Any phone call that comes through here, it goes through them first and they filter where it goes to make sure the right person's getting the job done. So if Jillian's out, it really throws the whole building off because she's our core person and she does so much that sometimes we don't even realize that she's doing it.”
As part of the American Federation of Teachers union, Witchey was one of 17 paraprofessionals who recently lobbied Congress for support of the Paraprofessionals and Education Support Staff Bill of Rights, which calls for improved wages and benefits and fair working conditions.
“I think it went well, it was really interesting to have to get the security clearance to go into the Capitol,” said Witchey, who has been Genesee’s secretary for six years. “We were divided up by the areas of the country that we were from and we went to talk to our own representatives.”
Tammy Nolan, who has been Owasco’s secretary for three years, said there are many reasons why she loves her job but one stands out.
“The kids. I have a few favorites, you shouldn't have any, but I do,” she said with a laugh. “I've gotten to know their parents and I just enjoy their smiles and their laughter. I enjoy (
Sydney Fallat, who started as Herman Avenue’s secretary in June, feels the same way.
“One of my favorite parts of the job is when the kids come in in the morning or when they're coming late, I'm able to greet them,” she said. “I like when they check in and I get to see their faces every morning.”
Witchey said people may not know how devoted the secretaries are to their jobs.
“They might just think, it's just a job or this or that,” she said. “I don't think they know how much we care.”
“I think people look at secretaries as a cushy sit-down job,” said Casey Park secretary Trish Bennett. “There's a lot that the secretaries have to do behind the scenes that I think the public is not aware of.”
The start of the school day is when the elementary secretary’s job may be the craziest as they check in late arriving students, take their lunch orders and make sure they get to their classrooms while handling other responsibilities.
“It's quite daunting sometimes, but it's a job that I think people should be more aware about,” said Bennett, who started in March. “Being a school secretary, you're the first point of contact for the parents and they think their expectation is that we should always be right there, which I am, but it gets busy.”
Busy is the word that always comes up when you ask a school secretary to describe their job.
“I didn't know, even coming in, everything they did,” said Seward Elementary secretary Augusta Seavey, who started in September. “So it’s a very multitasking job. Phones, people standing here waiting to be talked to because we are just hands-on everywhere. It is busy. I have a lot of patience, that's probably why I said I would do this job. I just take a breath and I know it'll get done.”
“I came in with an open mind because I wasn't exactly sure what to expect. It's what I expected but it's a lot more,” Fallat said. “It's a lot of behind the scenes stuff with organization. When there's a bunch of people in the office it's obvious I'm going to do my best to accommodate everyone as quickly as possible to get through everything.”
Principals depend on secretaries to help manage their day to day responsibilities, from scheduling to staff communications and more.
“They probably don't realize how many hats that I wear during the day,” Nolan said, “from attendance to lunch counts, answering phones, getting emails in and out, sorting the mail, making copies.”
“Obviously, without Tammy, I don't know where I would be because there are so many different things, so many functions that she does that are critical to the survival of the building,” Gorney said. “In a lot of things that they bring, their tricks for the trade, the more tricks that they have, the easier it is for everyone else.”
Gorney said it can’t be understated how important it is to have a good secretary.
“You may not know how good a secretary is from the outset,” he said, “but you'll know if you got a bad secretary, because things are going to fall apart. A good secretary may fly under the radar, she’s doing things, but a bad secretary, the building's going to be a mess.”
Passarello, who is in her third year as Genesee’s principal, is grateful for how much Witchey helps her.
“All those little minute details that come into play that I had absolutely no idea about being a principal, I would have been lost if we didn't have somebody that had been in the district in that position for so long,” she said. “There's things that I'll go out to do in the building, I come back and she's got a note on my desk, don't forget to do this or please sign this so we can get this turned in. So she keeps an eye on my calendar too, to make sure that I'm showing up for meetings and where I'm supposed to be. We really would be lost without her.”
“I just love that building, it's such a sense of community,” Witchey said. “People call it the Genesee family, and it's not just the staff, it's the students and the parents and I love that about the building. The only way I see myself leaving Genesee is when I retire.”
