switchboard; handling busing arrangements for students; delivering sup-
plies to classrooms and offices; handling the duplication of materials for
administration and staff; assisting secretaries in various offices. The latter
guarded school exits for which no school security guard was available, or
they assisted the cafeteria deans.
Unfortunately, Ms. Rivera found that the pedagogical staff sometimes
treated school aides as second-class citizens. Schools have the highest
concentration of degreed people per square inch than any other profes-
sion. Unfortunately, education does not always equal manners and some-
times leads to a feeling of elitism. During Ms. Rivera’s first years as a
principal, she published a periodic newsletter for the staff.
When she personally witnessed how some of the professional staff
treated the school aides, she wrote a lengthy article on how the school
aides contributed to the needs of staff and students in the school and were
important and valued members of the school community. This validated
the work of the aides and reduced some of the teachers’ snobbishness.
The aide who handled the duplication center in Ms. Valletta’s school
was proud that he was often able to give teachers the copies they needed
while they waited a few minutes. The “rules” for the duplication center had
been agreed to when it was established: The school aide needed a one-day
turnaround time. So, any materials left one day would be ready the next day
at the same time. Because he was usually so fast, teachers forgot the rules
and on those few occasions when he had a heavier than usual workload and
could not accommodate them immediately, they berated him. With the sup-
port of the union representative, who had agreed to the original rules, Ms.
Valletta addressed this issue in the weekly bulletin. She had a large poster
put up in the duplication center clearly stating the turnaround time. It was
obvious to her that a teacher who could not plan for his needs one day in
advance was poorly planning his lessons and blaming the duplication aide.
The aide who handled supply delivery and distribution at Ms. Valletta’s
school often had to deal with a similar type of issue. Teachers and admin-
istrators were equally at fault. They would see Steve in the hall and say
they needed this or that right away. When he failed to bring it immediately
or forgot to deliver it, they sometimes sought him out and screamed at
him. They were poor adult role models.
Steve came to Ms. Valletta very upset, and rightly so, as one of his
maligners was the assistant principal who supervised him. This assistant
Remember the Support Staff 153