Easy to Misstep as a Secretary

Public Relations Skills are Essential to a Secretary's Survivial

By Dave Arnold

School secretary Marcia Switzer is considering writing a survival book for secretaries. She believes secretaries are constantly walking a tightrope while interacting with administrators, students, teachers, parents and other visitors. It's easy to take a fall.
 
"Being a buffer between administration and staff is an interesting balancing act at times," she says.

Yes, as many Education Support Professionals (ESP) know, secretaries need the agility and judgment of a high wire artist. Switzer has served for six years as a secretary at Beacon High School in Beacon, New York.
 
"We've (secretaries) discovered most parents and a lot of teachers have no idea that we work a longer day than most of the staff," says Switzer, president of the Beacon Association of Office Personnel. "And we often work 12 months."

As far as I know, no survival guide for secretaries exists. If it did, it might mention how important it is for a secretary to know about public relations, mediation and collaboration. 

Good Public Relations

I have said it many times, and have heard some of the best administrators also admit that aside from students there is no one in the school system more valuable than a well-trained, diplomatic secretary.

For example, secretaries are unofficial public relations officers. The secretary is generally the first person you see when you walk in a school and the last person you see when you exit. They are on the front lines of greeting people, very much like sales representatives at stores. When I worked at Wal-Mart, I remember Sam Walton telling employees about the clerks at his stores.

"A person may not find what they wanted," he use to say, "but the sales clerk is the last person they see as they leave, and that clerk's attitude is what will make them want to come back."

Good secretaries know how to soothe the aching body, spirit or ego of a student. They know how to calm the concern of a parent gathering a sick child. Best of all, they know how to be loyal to their supervisors without being disloyal to their fellow ESPs. They keep people happy, so, as Sam Walton might say, these people "want to come back."

Mediator on Call

A mediator is often defined as a go-between, a third party, and a negotiator. Essentially, it's someone who settles disputes. You might as well add "a school secretary" to that list. Many times in the course of contract negotiations, a mediator is called in.

Same thing at school. During a stressful time or crisis, the school secretary is called on for advice. Why?

In addition to having people skills galore, the office space of most school secretaries adjoins an administrator's office. Therefore as students, parents, and employees bring a complaint to the administrator, they must first confront the secretary. She hears it all. Much too often for the secretary's liking, the complainant will unload their burden upon the hapless secretary.

Thanks to hard-earned skills and years of experience as "unofficial school mediator," the secretary will often nullify or at least cool down a situation before it lands in front of an administrator. Secretaries run interference for their supervisors.

Stuck in the Middle

As an ESP, the school secretary must also be a good collaborator, since she will often get caught in the middle of a "situation" between a fellow ESP and an administrator. Whenever problems arise, such as grievances or a simple change in an employee's work schedule, ESPs will air their frustrations to the secretary simply because the secretary works closely with administrators. Likewise, an administrator will often voice their dissatisfactions with ESPs to the secretary.

Quite often, the teacher's lounge is in close proximity of the secretary's desk. So are key copy machines. Consequently, the secretary often develops a close working relationship with teachers. Here again, secretaries find themselves caught in the middle between teachers and ESPs.

Many Roles

I'd like to conclude this column with a poem dedicated to secretaries who survive their school environments with poise, candor and good cheer. I wish it were a survival guide, but . . . 

       "To every child, she is their second mother
        To every teacher, she is a friend like no other
        She puts on Band-Aides and wipes a way tears
        Puts ice packs on bumps and erases fears

        She is principal's right hand
        At the ball games, she is the home team's number one fan
        She types up papers, runs copies, keeps records, and answers the phone
        And is the public relations person when someone wants to pick a bone"
                From the poem, "Many Things to Many People" by Dave Arnold

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(Dave Arnold, a member of the Illinois Education Association, is head custodian at Brownstown Elementary School in Southern Illinois. He can be contacted at dparnold@csuol.com.)

The views expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NEA or its affiliates.