Latest / The Recess-An Inside Look at the Auburn School District / Episode #26-Lisa Wilkinson, Elementary Office Manager

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Episode #26-Lisa Wilkinson, Elementary Office Manager · The Recess-An Inside Look at the Auburn School District

• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: Hello and welcome to the Recess Podcast.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Dr.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: Alan Spacotti, the proud superintendent of the Auburn School District.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: The Recess is a podcast where we tell stories about the people and the programs that really make Auburn School District such a great place to be a student or raise your family or work.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: I really have the honor of being in our schools on a almost daily basis to see the amazing things that our staff do, and our our frontline staff who work with students are supported by great people in the school offices and throughout our like maintenance and transportation and technology and many departments that help our principals and our teachers be great at what they do.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: We're going to meet one of those people right now.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: So let me introduce my guest for this episode.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: My guest is Lisa Wilkinson, who's the office manager at Chinook Elementary.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: Lisa, welcome.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: I'm glad to be here.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: Well, we're glad you're here too.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: We have great office managers and office staff uh around the district.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: And uh I wish I could have them all on the show, but uh I think Lisa's gonna do a great job representing them and sharing her own story and just giving you a sense of uh really what it is that an office manager does in a school.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: So uh buckle up and listen and we'll uh get right into it.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: And before we talk about the office manager role, um if you've had a chance to hear the podcast, but I always start with this question: Who was your favorite teacher and why?
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_01: I would have to say uh my favorite teacher was a high school English teacher, and she taught us to diagram sentences, which I thought was really cool.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_01: And she also read us a poem called The Raven, and I had never heard of the poem, The Raven, and she absolutely got into it.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_01: She had won some type of literature award for her performance, and it was incredible.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's a great story.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, where did you go to high school?
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_01: I grew up in Casper, Wyoming.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, really?
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_01: Not even close to here.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: I had no idea.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: That's great.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: That's great.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: We have quite a few Wyoming people, and and uh they're very proud.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: So uh shout out to Casper.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: Also, I'd like if any of my English teachers from 30 plus years ago are listening.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: I'm speaking to somebody who used cool and diagramming sentences together.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: So uh that's a first, but good for you.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: I know I learned a lot, uh, but I probably wasn't as enthusiastic as as you were about it.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_01: That's great.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_01: I loved it.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_01: For some reason it just uh I was able to understand the sentences and English language a little bit more when you put it on uh paper like that.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_01: And so it was great.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, very good.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: And are you uh a person who is really interested in the written word?
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: And do you are you an avid reader?
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: Do you does that come with you uh that you're your English classes?
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_01: Uh no, but I will critique your English if it's not right.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: Uh oh.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: I will be on my toes.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so let's go ahead and and fast forward here and and talk about the role of the office manager.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: Tell us about uh what the responsibilities are, and then we'll uh get into it from there.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I think as an office manager, uh our responsibility is to have a welcoming school and to work with the administrators, the principal, uh, assistant principal, and to make sure that we keep them on their toes and the processes moving so that they don't get bogged down in their due dates and responsibilities.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_01: Then we also deal with um payroll, HR, students and parents and a lot of things.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_01: So it's hard to enumerate one.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_01: I don't want to forget anything, but it is uh a big list of things that we do.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: So we don't have a huge central office in Auburn.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: We run a little leaner, I think, than many districts our size.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: Uh but we have a whole team that does what you just summarized, right?
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: HR and payroll and uh greeting our patrons and so forth, and that really falls on the office staff.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: Can you just for a minute talk about who's on the office staff at an elementary school?
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we are at over 700 students right now, and so we have myself, office manager, we have uh two full-time office assistants, and then we have a three-hour office person based on our enrollment.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_01: And so that's in the office.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_01: That's who we are in the office.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: Good.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: So uh let's uh take it in a different direction.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: Can you paint for the audience what a normal day looks like?
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_01: Normal day looks like saying hello to Miss Drake while I'm there, getting in there, making sure that we have coverage for all of our teachers.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_01: If there are some that are absent or that need substitutes, I greet the substitute.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_01: It says they come in.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_01: And then at that time after the subs and the classes are over or organized, then I will help greet the students and the parents as they come in to drop off their children.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_01: If they come in to drop off a lunch or a water bottle, we do that.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_01: And so the bell rings at 9 25 for students to be in class.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_01: And so I open the office at 8 15, and that's probably the busiest part of my day.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: That's great.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it it is a fast pace most of the day, really, I think, uh, but m sometimes more than others.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and I appreciate you sharing the the day and you know, mentioning your principal.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: I can tell you as a former principal, I leaned on my office manager and my office staff so much, and it was a big part of of my success and the school's success was knowing that uh, you know, we had a lot to get done and we worked as a team.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: And uh I I think you're uh the principals you've worked for have been really uh appreciative of the work you do, Lisa.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: How many how many years have you been in the Auburn School District?
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_01: Uh fifteen at Chinook.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_01: So I've been around a little bit longer than that.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um but I have done time at the district office.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: I've also worked at transportation as a floater.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um I worked at Washington Elementary as a class size para for the kindergarten class.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_01: And so now I've been at Chinook for 15 years.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: Fantastic and the beautiful new Chinook.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: And I remember uh meeting you at Old Chinook.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: And uh you've been all along for that whole adventure.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_01: Mm-hmm.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: So let's talk about how you got to the career of office manager.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: Uh tell us about your uh background uh maybe as you went out of school and any other jobs you had and what kind of uh experiences or qualifications help you be ready for a job like office manager.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_01: Washington State University.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_01: I went there with my husband and he got his architecture degree from Washington State University.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_01: Then we transferred back over here and I worked at the University of Washington hospital and then I was able to get a position closer to home at Green River and then um I raised my kids after that.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_01: So I was working at home doing medical transcription for about 20 years and then after that I came back to work and it was great.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: Good.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it's uh our benefit, it sounds like uh a lot.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: What kind of experiences do you think help prepare you to be an office manager today?
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_01: I would say also, besides my office experience at the Washington State University, that was a good preparation.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_01: I did a lot of things there, and uh at Green River Community College, I worked with their student programs office with the ASB students, and that was really insightful.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we sold tickets to the heavier than air theater in the department that I worked in.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_01: And it was just nice to be around people.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_01: I really like that, and so I knew I wanted to work with uh be around people.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and those are you know, actually that's probably the most important role that our office staff has, in my opinion.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: You're the first impression of a school.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um like some others, you may see people sometimes on their worst day, the parent is stressed out, they're you know, concerned that that their kid isn't being treated fairly, or they have an issue with a teacher, or um whatever i issues are coming up.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and to be able to be welcoming um and supportive and help solve problems, I'm sure it's it's very gratifying and it's really an important um impression that we make and helps to shape people's opinions of the school and the district um and build trust with our parents.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: So all of that stuff happens you know, really on the interpersonal side with our office staff and you have to have that skill set, right?
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: I assume that you probably took a typing test to get the position and uh we need people in the office manager role who uh have a great grasp of you know writing and grammar and the office technology and be able to support the principal and and take work independently and and do all those things.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: So it's that, you know, almost like a mix of skill sets between a kind of introverted work with uh you know the written work and the you know being in our student system and those kind of things, and then the extroverted treating people well and and making a great impression.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: So it uh it takes a lot of talent and and range to do these jobs.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I know some of our our parents are um they're great, they love to stop by the office, and it can be challenging sometimes to talk to them or to uh make it so that they're more comfortable with the things that we do at school or something that you know might have happened.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_01: And I take it as a challenge.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_01: I really take it as a challenge to make that parent feel like I I understand what they need and want and that we're doing our best.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't I try not to um get defensive, but I I will, you know, make sure that they know that we care.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: Well you do a great job of that, and you know, I I see that a lot, and it's something where where we don't see it, we aspire to really just setting that welcoming tone and and I think you put it very well, Lisa, showing that we care.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: And that matters to people almost more than what we do.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you have to back it up with action, but if people don't see that you care, it's just really hard to build trust in a relationship.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: So good words, good word choice.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: All right, let's make this fun.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: Uh what do you love about being an elementary office manager?
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, well, I do love some of the staff can be engaging and fun, and I love hearing about their challenges with their kids and what they said.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_01: So I miss out a lot on engaging with the students.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_01: But I also got a Christmas card from one of the classes, and it says, Thank you for helping us at recess, thank you for helping us when we're hurt or sick, thank you for making sure we don't get hurt or fight at recess, thank you for helping us when we're late, working hard, and being kind.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_01: So that's from Miss Newman's class.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_01: We hung that up in the office.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_00: That's sweet.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_01: And that's all that uh my favorite thing is getting notes like that from the from the kids that you know they're learning to be appreciative for people who work in the office.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_01: People who work at the school.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_01: I'm assuming that our custodian probably also got one, you know.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_01: It's uh we try to be thankful for everybody who works at the school.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: I I would I would hope so.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: I would think so.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I've spent a lot of time in your library.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, there is a lot of support for the kids and the and the classroom teachers at Chinook and all of of the the across their school district, really.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: So is there anything else that uh that you take joy in as you're at work?
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um anything you want to share?
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_01: I just I love working with the other office managers and the connection that we have.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_01: We're able to support each other, emails, um, questions for each other, frustrations that we take out with each other.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_01: It's great.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um I also really like the office staff that I work with.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um, they're amazing.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: That's fantastic.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_00: Good, good.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_00: I'm glad you want to share uh about your office staff, your colleagues?
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um I work with Rhonda and Michelle, and they're just amazing.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_01: They work so hard, and they're so kind and understanding, and really just exude that type of understanding and patience that you would want to with parents who are stuck in the process of registering a student, or a parent that's continually comes in two minutes after the bell rings, you know, and or a parent that calls at five o'clock for a bus situation, and uh it just never ends for us, those type of questions or situations, and we're always problem solving.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_01: That's another thing that I like about my job is that it's not boring, never boring.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_01: And I do like the um people that I work with.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_01: Michelle is she does recess outside, she did an hour and a half of of recess today.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_01: Wow, and it's a lot, and we have 700 kids, and so they divide that up into three recesses basically, and so it can be you're watching a lot of kids.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_01: We have a lot of adults out there too, and the situations are handled quickly, and we like being able to have a parent comes in, something happened at recess.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_01: One of us was out there, and we're right there.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that actually feels like a transition in the business, uh, as an amateur podcaster.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: I'll call it the business.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: So you mentioned recess, and you mentioned uh uh our principal being out, kids being out and playing.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: Go back to when you were in school.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_00: What was your favorite thing to do at recess?
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_01: Well, remember, uh, I grew up in Wyoming, and this is gonna be uh unique something, but we would during the winter time book uh put our coats on, put our boots on, gloves and hats, and go sledding down the snowy hill.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_01: And it was so at school, we would bring cardboard or find a piece of plastic and just for a half an hour, just as long as our little hands could stand it, uh go sledding down the hill.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_01: And if you were lucky enough to make it to the fence, that was great.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_01: That was a great run.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_01: And that hill was probably a hundred feet long.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_01: I s it was something.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_01: It was something.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: A hundred feet.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_00: Have have you been back lately?
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_01: I have, I have, and it was like, oh, okay.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_01: And it was just, I mean, the fence was like on there was a sidewalk and then there was a busy street.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: So I think we can establish Lisa went to the coolest elementary school in America where you could sled on a hundred foot hill at recess.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: I would have loved to do that when I was in elementary school.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_00: That's so cool.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it was fun.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my gosh.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_00: I love hearing the stories of things that uh we used to do and maybe don't don't quite do anymore.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_00: But uh those were were some fond memories for all of us.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_00: Well, Lisa, I've really enjoyed getting to hear about you and uh Chinook and the office and the work in the office and uh about Casper, Wyoming and uh the recess.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's really been been fun.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I hope you enjoy the rest of your year.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_00: And uh again, let's uh if you if you are in a school office, just take a moment to thank our folks uh because yeah, as you heard with the letter uh from the class, it really means a lot.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_00: And uh a lot of these support roles, the custodian, um and you know, the bus driver and and folks across our system uh aren't necessarily as visible as like the teacher who you know gets the gifts on the holiday and that kind of thing, but they're just as integral to the success of our schools.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: So uh thank an office staff member when you see them.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_00: And Lisa, I will thank you.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for being on the Recess Podcast.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_01: All right, and thank you so much.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_01: I loved it.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_00: Good.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, this has been the Recess Podcast, a production of the Auburn School District.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks to Vicky Alonzo, our executive director of communications, uh, who does a nice job editing and supporting so that we get these stories out to you.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: If you enjoy this episode, please take a moment to share it with somebody else who would.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, maybe you know an office manager, maybe you have your own memories of uh school in the office, uh, or you just wish you could have slid down the hill at recess like I do, uh, please pass this along and help us get the stories out so that uh our whole community hears about the great things happening in Auburn and the great people making things work.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_00: All right, this has been the Recess Podcast.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Alan Speciati, and I will see you next time.