Earlier this year I covered for Jeanne, one of our K-8 admin assistants, in the morning while students and staff arrived to school.  Last week I covered for our other K-8 admin assistant, Tracy, and I got to see the other side of the day.  I was scheduled from 3:00 – 4:00, smack dab in the middle of dismissal.

There was a lot more action in the office this time around.  Sure, there were a few stretches of 3 minutes at a time when there was a lull, but it was busy.  If my memory serves me correctly, we had:

– 9 phone calls

– 3 radio calls to the bus

– 1 radio call to another staff member

– 3 students came in to make a phone call

– 1 student came in to get their phone

– 1 student picked up a message left for them by their parent

– 1 student came in to ask if they could have some dry pants because their pants were soaked from their field trip to the beach

– 5 messages were sent to students in classrooms because of a change in plans at the end of the day

I didn’t have a problem when one of these 24 events occurred in isolation, but when I had to carry on a conversation on the radio and answer the phone while a student was asking me a question…well, that’s when my wires got crossed.  All I had to do is give Jeanne a look of “help!” and she jumped right in to save the day.

As busy as it was, it was so fun to see students, staff, and parents at the end of the day.  It was a very satisfying job when I was able to help someone, solve a problem, or coordinate communication.

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