Students are very familiar with classmates, teachers, and staff members who make appearances throughout the school year. However, many behind-the-scenes staff members ensure that students are where they should be, in life and at school.
School attendance workers are often overlooked, but they play a crucial part in the education system, guaranteeing a consistent school attendance record. Mrs. Vanessa King is one of the important people who works as an attendance office assistant.
Outside of her job, Mrs. King also has many other responsibilities and interests.
“I am a mom, I have three kids, in elementary school, middle school, and in high school. I live in Glendora, and I grew up in Arcadia and came to Arcadia schools. I went to Highland Oaks, Foothills Middle School, and Arcadia High,” said Mrs. King. “I love going to concerts, I love the beach, I love the Dodgers, I love going to Dodger’s games, and I love Disneyland.”
Throughout the school, students see their teachers and classmates the most, which means that students are more used to their routines. However, not all students are familiar with the routine of a staff member who does not interact with the same students constantly.
“Most of our day is filled with getting [students] excused, so like, parents will call, come in, email, and then students bring in notes. Because we do have a lot of notifications to get through a day, over 100 in different forms, it takes us a little bit to get through all of them,” said Mrs. King when asked about her daily routine. “A part of our job in the attendance office is to report attendance to the school because that is how we get funding as well.”
“I had actually done a little bit of attendance, I worked in the attendance office over at Glendora High School, where I live, and this job became available. There was an opening for this job in Arcadia when I came here, and my sister teaches at Dana Middle School,” Mrs.King recounted. “ I thought it would be great to come back to where I went to school and work at the school that raised me.”
Working in any job has its positives and negatives.
“Positives are that the people are great, I mean I’ve only been here this year, but it’s been super welcoming. Everybody’s been really awesome, I feel really comfortable learning from everybody, I think it’s a great team, and everybody’s really collaborative,” said Mrs. King. “This experience, so far, has been great. My only negative would be my commute, because I drive in traffic every day.”
People grow from a mixture of experience and lessons taught by other people’s experiences, and through one’s experience, you might be able to learn something you cannot be taught at school.
“I think multitasking, which you can learn in school, but multitasking at a fast pace, is something that you learn from experience,” shared Mrs. King.
“Something I like to do every day is that I make notes of everything, typically I make notes of everything throughout the day, of what I need to accomplish through the day. That way I can look at it and see what task needs to be addressed first and then go on from there. Also, I feel like keeping notes of everything is great for answering questions like, ‘Hey, when did that happen?’ and ‘Which person called?’ Just having notes covering your tracks and having receipts, if you will. “
Like going to school, there are days when you feel sluggish or tired.
“A lot of fun, it’s busy. Like I mentioned it’s like a revolving door earlier, that’s exactly what it feels like. So I work really closely hand in hand with Ms. Randazzo, so it’s been great to collaborate with her; we’re kind of like an attendance team. So she and I will tell each other where we need help and where we need the other one to take care of this today. Teamwork, teamwork makes the dream work for sure,” states Mrs. King.
When asked about what it takes to be an attendance office worker, Mrs. King shares, “I think just being ready and being prepared for anyone who comes in or any students that come up, being ready to give them your full attention. I like how it’s busy and a fast-paced environment, and our TA’s are really helpful, they really make the office space feel really light-hearted.”
As for some final words, Mrs. King said, “I hope that we can get away from that stigma that people have of the attendance office. I know for me, I want to encourage students to be here on time and come to school every day, also reporting your attendance because that’s important. At the end of the day, we’re just happy you’ve made it, if you come late, any day you come here we’re happy you made it.”
Thank you to Mrs. King and Mrs. Randazzo for being amazing people supporting our school, and keeping an orderly attendance office!
