Ms. Anna would say that her experience at South Shore has been great; she
loves to connect with families, staff members and students! She mentions how
she has grown from being a helper and a tutor in Pre-K to becoming an admin
secretary. She had many different jobs at South Shore, but she states that she
really enjoys being an admin secretary.
Something that Ms. Anna says makes South Shore different from other
schools is the support and flexibility of our principal. She states how the principal
works with team members and acknowledges that they are also people who have
full lives and other things going on. So, flexibility is one thing that makes South
Shore different from other schools, staff members try their best to find solutions
for when needed, such as being understaffed. She also mentions how diversity is
another thing that makes South Shore different from other schools. Ms. Anna
states that everyone must bend a little bit for someone else, and she likes that
about our school. “What I like about the diversity at south shore is that all of us
must give and bend a little bit for somebody else. And that’s part of what makes
us stronger and helps us weave together like a community.”
Something that Ms. Anna enjoys about working in the office is that it isn’t
boring, she states that there’s always something new happening. Even in her
office, where it’s more closed off and where she has boring stuff to do (such as
payroll and purchasing with money stuff), there’s always something going on.
When someone needs help, the staff members in the office have a position where
they want to go above and beyond to serve the families and their needs. She then
states how she does creative problem solving all the time to go above and beyond
for the families and mentions how it’s a lot of fun!
Ms. Anna would consider working in the office not a peaceful environment,
but she states how that’s okay. In her job she must deal with people being absent
from work because of things that are going on that’s hard in their lives or they
have questions about payroll, which is usually related to something going on that’s
hard on their lives (this is with staff members). Or they are coming to change their
schedule (students), because they are having a hard time in that classroom. She
states how there’s a lot of distress that the community feels and that a lot of it
ends up in her office, so that’s the part that makes working in the office not so
peaceful, but she mentions how that is totally okay. Ms. Anna likes to be in a
space where she can try and bring some calm and relief to the hard places where
people are. She then states, “So, if I can bring a little bit to help them leave with
more peace, that is okay. And in the morning before you all get here, I play music
and sing loud in my office. So that helps too. That helps me ease into the day
better.”
Ms. Anna’s job at South Shore is the Admin Administrative Secretary. She
deals with registering students and supporting the principal team, she also just
backs up whatever is needed with the other secretaries. When needed, she also
helps the nurse out. Ms. Anna states how difficult her job is, although she likes the
variety of her job, it is a difficult job in Seattle Public Schools. She then mentions,
“…they look at k-8 like an elementary in terms of our staffing.” Even though our
Middle School is small, it still needs things normal Middle Schools typically need
such as report card four times a year, classes scheduled for everyone twice a year,
and all these other things that ASB deals with. “…and all the things that normal
full middle schools have; we still have to do them.” She then states how there are
no extra staff to help with this work because it is Ms. Jessica doing attendance,
and Ms. Audrey at the front, so they all try to work together and collaborate to `
keep these pieces together. So, that is what makes her job so difficult. Especially
being a Pre-k through 8
th grade school and being in Seattle Public Schools. She
states, “But there is not another school that I would want to work in, in Seattle
Public Schools.”