Support Staff Appreciation Day | February 8, 2022

The following was shared on the morning announcements. Staff names have been removed from the post and replaced with job titles.

February 8, 2022

Today in our School District we are recognizing support staff for their great efforts in making our schools great places to learn. So when we say “support staff,” who do we mean? Basically everyone other than teachers and administrators and we thought we’d highlight a few of them and how we can all show appreciation to them today, and every day.

This morning, our custodian arrived at 6:20 AM. He turns on all the lights, unlocks many of the doors, makes sure things are tidy, and on the tough days, he clears snow and salts our walkways.

Our administrative assistant arrives at 8 AM. She doesn’t ease into her work. There’s always some problem to solve; someone to help; something to organize and if it’s a calm day in the office with not too many messages, injuries, phone calls, she may have some time during school hours to get to registering new students, communicating with families about the school, accounting, the list goes on…

Shortly after our first Teacher Assistant arrives. She is outside ensuring we have a safe and supervised site when our first students arrive off the bus. After welcoming students outside, she heads inside to ensure all of the students we are expecting arrived.

At 8:15 AM, one of our 12 education assistants arrives to help one of our students get off the bus. By 8:29 AM, all other education assistants begin a day filled with helping students with reading, writing, math, and focusing on their learning. Our EAs become experts in supporting the many students they work with and while their work is incredibly rewarding, it can also be incredibly challenging yet they come to work each day with a fresh start.

At 10:15, more Teaching Assistants arrive often helping with recess and then lunch supervision, enforcing rules sometimes with students they’ve just met.

After the school day, our afternoon/evening custodians arrive. They have the immense task of keeping 35 000 square feet of BICS clean – and these days, that doesn’t just mean tidy and clean, it means safe and sanitary. We have about 35 sinks, more than a dozen toilets, and over 350 people using the building daily. We also have dozens of hand-santizer bottles that need refilling, often! Our evening custodians finish around 10 PM once the building is in great shape.

BICS is well-known for having a great staff and this makes our school a great place to work. While we enjoy working with each other, the reason we do what we do is that we want to support students. Students simply showing up brings us all joy but on this day, and in the days to come, I encourage students to think about how they can help support staff…

Most importantly, you can say thank you. If you see our custodians, offer thanks for keeping the building safe and healthy; if someone helps you, look them in the eye and say thank you.

A few other things you can do:

• Keep your classroom and the school grounds clean.
• Be safe fair and kind and if a supervisor asks you to do something, accept their direction with respect
• Ask for help from our Education Assistants and thank them for helping you!

Thank you to our Support Staff for doing such a wonderful job, always, and especially in these challenging times.