The attendance office is a place on campus frequently visited by both students and adults throughout the school day. Whether it’s for a late pass or to withdraw a student early, the attendance office is the one doing it all. With so many frequent visits, not many stop to think about day-to-day life inside the attendance office along with the individuals who run it.
A few individuals who run it are Mayra Vite, Andrea Sanchez, and Jacob Elam. They shared their insight and thoughts on daily life and other things like their roles and responsibilities.
For basic work life Vite responded, “So, pretty much we focus on tardies… absences, we also have to be calling parents to inform them if their [student] gets more than the amount we give out, which is 13 per semester.”
Elam stated, “for the most part things here are predictable, but there’s always that element of unpredictability”.
Regarding daily passes given out a day, Sanchez stated, “I feel like I give out at least 20-25 a day”.
Elam added that at most they are visited by “200 people a day”. As for phone calls made and received, Vite replied, “I wanna say on average we make at least over 50 calls divided by all of us.”
In terms of the busiest times at the attendance office, Sanchez replied, “definitely in the morning”. Vite also said in the morning, but she says, “it’s worse during this time of the year… the end of the first semester, especially since winter break is after .” Elam agreed by stating “also in April and May it gets pretty busy”.
For their favorite part of working in the attendance office, Elam said, “I’d have to work with my coworkers, because that’s what makes a work environment. It’s the people there, and it’s much more of a community field.” Sanchez enjoys her time at the office because it is “fun” and everyone is “very nice”. It is all around a good work environment. Vite responded, “my co-workers and since we do not leave the office too much it is nice to see when a student drops by.”
For benefits of working the attendance office, Sanchez jokingly stated “insurance” but then went on to state, “It’s good to know that we’re helping out the kids, just not directly. ” Vite responded, “You get to know the kids more, conversate with them, and interact with them.” Elam stated, “Interacting as a whole, and getting to see all the aspects of the school”.
Onto the specifics of what they individually do, Vite said, “For the most part we all do the same thing besides me, I deal with students who have passed the limit of thirteen given tardies and kids not showing up to classes.” Elam stated, “We’re like the faces of the school when people are coming in, we deal more with students for passes and when parents come take out their [student] early.”
All in all the attendance office is an area on campus with great individuals working behind it. They care so much about the students and have so much respect for one another.
