School secretaries: pros/cons

[tvguy]

Tvguy, I'm realizing that your responses are entertaining. I do currently work in a school as a TA and you're responses are reminding me of the kids that want attention so they raise their hands and ask totally off topic questions, instead of answering the teacher's question.

Yikes. Cut to the quick telling a guy whose living the past 40 years has been dependent on writing clearly. I thought I had answered the question, sorry.

 

[tvguy]

So who calls parents if their child is not in school? Who complies all the data for the district office? Who arranges the material need for special school programs? Who sets up elavs/iep meetings?

If you don't have school nurses, who is in charge of student health records? Where is student medication stored? Do they really call 911 if a student fell on the playground and needs a bandage? What about when a student gets sick at school. Who determines if they need to go home or back to class?


This all seems so odd to me. Our local elementary school has 1 executive secretary for the principal. This person works year round. There are 2 other office secretaries that work 3 weeks longer than the school year (1/2 before and after) as well as one Special Ed secretary that also works 3 weeks longer than the school year. All of our schools have a full time nurse that is an RN. We also have assistant principals in every school.

I have no idea. I suspect a lot of the tasks you are asking about are automated features of Power School of what ever software the school.
I would assume the teachers do their own setup, here they get 1 period prep time 4 days a week, and every Thursday is a half day with the afternoon being teacher prep.
Kids here now all have to go a a central location to signup for school so I suspect student health records are kept there. One factual piece of information I did find the addresses on question, each school has a "designated school employee" for the administration of medicines.
http://www.sanjuan.edu/Page/3996
When my kids got sick, the Principal always called.
I don't about schools, but being involved in youth sports, making sure someone is calling 9-1-1 is part of the training we get as part of the initial evaluation of an injury. In Little League, the coaches are to attend to the injury, the umpire is in charge of making sure medical help is on the way. Our fire department has made it clear, it is never a waste of their time to respond to even a minor injury to a child.

 

[dminnie]

Yikes. Cut to the quick telling a guy whose living the past 40 years has been dependent on writing clearly. I thought I had answered the question, sorry.

No, the question had nothing to do if you thought there were jobs available as school secretaries(or to change the subject to school nurses). I've restated the question already, so I don't need to again.

I have no idea. I suspect a lot of the tasks you are asking about are automated features of Power School of what ever software the school.
I would assume the teachers do their own setup, here they get 1 period prep time 4 days a week, and every Thursday is a half day with the afternoon being teacher prep.
Kids here now all have to go a a central location to signup for school so I suspect student health records are kept there. One factual piece of information I did find the addresses on question, each school has a "designated school employee" for the administration of medicines.
http://www.sanjuan.edu/Page/3996
When my kids got sick, the Principal always called.
I don't about schools, but being involved in youth sports, making sure someone is calling 9-1-1 is part of the training we get as part of the initial evaluation of an injury. In Little League, the coaches are to attend to the injury, the umpire is in charge of making sure medical help is on the way. Our fire department has made it clear, it is never a waste of their time to respond to even a minor injury to a child.

BTW, the site you are referencing has plenty of school secretaries and nurses listed on their staff directory.

Thanks to those of you that have helped me with the question I posed. The person in the position now is retiring and I'm trying to gauge my interest in it. Maybe it's strange to put it out on a forum like this, but I don't want to ask around work about it a lot as of yet.

 

[Dizneefamily+4]

My dh is a teacher in our district (high school) and he knows that if he ever needs anything, the secretaries (admin assistants in our case) have his back. He knows how hard they work. One of my very good friends is one of the 2 admin assistants in my dd's elemetary school. Both assistants have LOTS of contact with all of the kids and they both love their jobs. It's a lot of paperwork, contact with parents, assisting the principal and dean of students (aka vice-principal,) phone calls, etc. Our district does have nurse, but all the schools share her. So the admin assistants do a lot of temp-taking, Rx administering, band-aid & ice-pack dispensing, etc.

 

[phorsenuf]

I have no idea. I suspect a lot of the tasks you are asking about are automated features of Power School of what ever software the school.
I would assume the teachers do their own setup, here they get 1 period prep time 4 days a week, and every Thursday is a half day with the afternoon being teacher prep.
Kids here now all have to go a a central location to signup for school so I suspect student health records are kept there. One factual piece of information I did find the addresses on question, each school has a "designated school employee" for the administration of medicines.
http://www.sanjuan.edu/Page/3996
When my kids got sick, the Principal always called.
I don't about schools, but being involved in youth sports, making sure someone is calling 9-1-1 is part of the training we get as part of the initial evaluation of an injury. In Little League, the coaches are to attend to the injury, the umpire is in charge of making sure medical help is on the way. Our fire department has made it clear, it is never a waste of their time to respond to even a minor injury to a child.

A snippet from the above referenced link;
If you have any questions, please call the office.

But who will answer???????

 

[Nancyg56]

In the twon I work in, the children are in and out of the offices all day long, and it is not unusual to see one of the admins, child in hand, walking through the building for one reason or another. I woul dbe lying if I tried to say what those busy people do allday, but from the outside looking in. there is plenty of interaction with the students. Not the same interactions as a teacher would have, but I do not think the admins are that removed from the student opulation.

 

[newbie2disney]

I started as a teacher associate and a secretary associate position opened less than two years later. I have worked at our middle school for over 15 years and I LOVE my job! I still get to interact with students frequently. I have lunch duty every three weeks. I'm certified to give students their Rx meds and am usually the "nurse" if you need an ice pack, bandaid or Tylenol. Our school nurse is shared among the other four schools in our district. I'm there for every teacher and the principal for anything they need. I follow up on students attendance...if they haven't been called in by 9am the parent gets a phone call. I also do the district PowerSchool lunch deposits. This is just a few of the things I do and LOVE! I don't know how a school could function without at least one secretary.

 

[smkohn]

A snippet from the above referenced link;
If you have any questions, please call the office.

But who will answer???????

Even better, if you click on immunization requirements, at the bottom it says that if you have any questions to contact the school secretary (who apparently doesn't exist).

 

[AnAmericanInDisney]

I've never seen anyone busier than the Middle School secretary, but I can't figure out what some of the secretaries do half the time- guidance, athletic dept.- so I guess she'll either be super busy, or not at all. My son said the high school secretaries sit around playing candy crush.

 

[Gracie09]

Very common here,but voice mail replaced secretaries in a lot of industries, including the one I work in. Here kids with severe health issues are usually in special ed programs. These days, with all the legal issues, a school staffer would just call 9-1-1 if there was an issue, they don't even allow medications anymore to be given by school staff in many public schools.

It is illegal to place a child in special education due to a medical issue. If the school district tried to place my dd in special education because she has asthma, they would be on the receiving end of a lawsuit faster than they could spit. The Ada and section 504 of the rehabilitative act require least restrictive environment for children with medical and special needs. And judging by the number of inhalers in the nurses cabinet, they do distribute medication on a daily basis (also I had to fill out several forms at the beginning of the year giving permission for the nurse to dispense her medication).

 

[nugov2]

BTW, the site you are referencing has plenty of school secretaries and nurses listed on their staff directory.

Thanks to those of you that have helped me with the question I posed. The person in the position now is retiring and I'm trying to gauge my interest in it. Maybe it's strange to put it out on a forum like this, but I don't want to ask around work about it a lot as of yet.

Poor Marguerite...she is so underappreciated people don't even know she exists at the school!

CROWN, MARGUERITE
ELEM SCHOOL SECRETARY
Department: SIERRA OAKS
Location: SIERRA OAKS

 

[Allison]

A snippet from the above referenced link;
If you have any questions, please call the office.

But who will answer???????

Maybe one of the several school nurses listed.

I like the analogy someone made that this poster is like a student so anxious to give an answer that they say anything for attention and don't care about accuracy.

 

[Southernmiss]

Interesting tvguys tag line is 'question anything the facts don't support'.

Though tonight's post is a side of him I've not seen before.

 

[Allison]

Interesting tvguys tag line is 'question anything the facts don't support'.

Though tonight's post is a side of him I've not seen before.

I just noticed that. How ironic. This thread is typical though for what he posts.

Sorry, OP, this got off track. Good luck.

 

[SueM in MN]

I was a School Nurse (way back in the last century! Ha!) and volunteered a few hours a week at my kids school.

As a School Nurse, I traveled between 2 Elementary Schools, a Middle School and a Jr. High/High School. The secretaries in each school functioned somewhat the same and somewhat differently, but all were busy. The one Elementary School had a Health Secretary housed there - she had some responsibility for health records in all schools, but she was the one kids came to if they were sick, needed medication or had some other health problem.
At the other schools, the school secretary handled those things plus various student issues like forgotten lunch money, torn clothes, kids who needed to call home, kids sent to the principal's office, kids coming in late or leaving early.
Their day seemed to really vary depending on what was going on that day - answering phones and greeting people, doing paperwork, attendance records, receiving mail, computer entry (after all, computers don't completely run themselves). the exact job might depend on the school district and how many secretaries there are.

 

[jdb in AZ]

I worked 3 years as an executive secretary at a college union building, scheduling meetings, coordinating room arrangements, managing the all-campus activities calendar, and answering questions at an information desk. I was the same age as most of the students, so I met lots of smart, single guys. That was a plus. The hours were good, but the pay -- not so much. The worst drawback was that I had five incoming phone lines, and even now, a hundred years later, I really, really hate phones.

 

[BlovesC]

Tvguy, I'm realizing that your responses are entertaining. I do currently work in a school as a TA and you're responses are reminding me of the kids that want attention so they raise their hands and ask totally off topic questions, instead of answering the teacher's question.

 

[Jamby001]

If my asthmatic kid was put in special ed, I would not be a happy parent. I have no idea what tvguy says 3/4 of the time. He argues for the sake of arguing.

Oh, and his kids went to private school with higher tuition that the State Universities (so he says) so I would have expected they could have bankrolled a secretary.

 

[KingofJapan]

Tvguy, you do realize the 911 system was started in the 60's, not the 90's. Also I have no idea where you live but unless you live in the middle of no where, a school always has a secretary and will never segregate those kids with an illness from the others....very illegal Iand unethical.

My friends wife is a school secretary. She says the pay is not that great but has the same benefits as the teachers which are excellent and loves working with the kids. Oh and guess what, they even have a secretary and a.......nurse

 

[SirDuff]

Tvguy, you do realize the 911 system was started in the 60's, not the 90's. Also I have no idea where you live but unless you live in the middle of no where, a school always has a secretary and will never segregate those kids with an illness from the others....very illegal Iand unethical.

My friends wife is a school secretary. She says the pay is not that great but has the same benefits as the teachers which are excellent and loves working with the kids. Oh and guess what, they even have a secretary and a.......nurse

Apparently, somewhere where the fire department has nothing better to do than deal with a child's sprained ankle or skinned knee.

My friend who is a school secretary says the same that many have said here - the pay isn't great (but the benefits are), she loves interacting with the kids (or most of them), and some days it seems that paperwork is taking over her life