muster. Another is the payroll secretary, for without him teachers will not
be properly paid, move up salary steps, or have the right health insurance
or pension plan.
It is difficult to overestimate how important secretaries are to the smooth
administration of a school. In addition to screening potential teachers, the
principal’s secretary serves as an office manager, monitors the principal’s
calendar, makes sure required reports are submitted on time, and handles a
variety of other chores, from initial screening of school rentals to keeping
track of graduation awards. Other secretaries handle important aspects of
school administration: student records and transcript requests, ordering all
supplies from different funding sources, and managing the pupil person-
nel office for the head of the guidance department.
Without secretaries, teachers would not be paid or have any books or
supplies, students and parents would have no access to student records,
and school administrators would spend a huge portion of their time on
record-keeping. In short, the school would run poorly, if at all.
Secretaries are often the first to greet parents, students, and teachers in
the offices assigned to them. Their tactful dispositions and helpful manners
contribute to the positive ambience of the school. Often, an extraordinary
secretary goes beyond her job description to provide extra help for staff.
Ms. Glass was the payroll secretary at Ms. Valletta’s Manhattan High.
In addition to being extremely knowledgeable in all payroll matters and
completing all required forms and reports correctly and on time, she
served as a surrogate grandmother to many young teachers who, alone in
the city, needed guidance in everything from personal finances to matters
of the heart. Whenever a staff member was facing a crisis of some sort,
she usually knew. If she felt the principal or assistant principal could help,
she would let one of them know.
When Mr. Chen became a principal, he found that his secretary was in-
valuable in garnering information on his staff. In most schools, secretaries
eat lunch together and use the opportunity to share information. Among
secretaries, as among the cloistered monks in Eco’s The Name of the Rose,
information is a prized possession. The exchange of information is a daily
ritual, where one’s status rises or falls depending upon who knows what
about whom.
As residents in all key school offices, the secretaries know virtually
everything about everybody, both what is true and what is rumored. It
150 Chapter 11