What Do Non-Teacher School District Employees Do, And When Should You Contact Them?
It was a rainy Tuesday in October, and I’d left my phone locked in my car when I realized I needed to sign my 8-year-old out early for a dentist appointment. The main office was swamped: the secretary was on hold with the bus company, a group of parent volunteers were dropping off cookie dough for the fundraiser, and no one had a second to point me toward the nurse’s office where my kid was waiting. I headed down the hall myself, and halfway there, I ran into a man in a gray district-issued hoodie prying a broken bookshelf off the wall. His work boots were scuffed, and he had a roll of duct tape stuck in his back pocket. I asked if he knew how long the nurse would be, and he wiped his hands on his jeans and said she was wrapping up a scraped knee for a first grader, two minutes max. We stood there for a minute while the rain tapped the window, and I asked what his role at the school was. “Facilities,” he said. “But I help out wherever they need me.”
That 30-second interaction got me thinking. I’ve had a kid in this district for four years, and I could only name three non-teacher district employees who work at his school: the secretary, the nurse, and the crossing guard who stands at the corner by the park. When I talked to the principal later that week, she told me that nearly 60 percent of the district employees at her elementary school aren’t classroom teachers. That number stopped me cold. We spend all back-to-school night chatting with our kid’s teacher, tagging them in local parent group posts when they do something great, but we barely notice the other people who show up for our kids every single day.
I first realized how much these employees do two years ago, when my son was in second grade. He’d come home every day quiet, shut himself in his room to color instead of going out to play, and refused to talk about what was wrong when I asked. I emailed his teacher, who said he seemed fine in class, participated in group work, didn’t act upset. A week later, Ms. Rita, the crossing guard who’s worked the corner by our bus stop for 12 years, pulled me aside as I waited for my son to get off the bus. “I’ve noticed he’s been hanging back by the lamppost for two weeks now,” she said. “Says the other kids won’t let him join four square. You might want to ask him about that.” That’s all she said, but it was the opening I needed. My son finally talked about it that night, and we were able to work with the teacher to get him playing again. I’d never have known if a non-teacher employee hadn’t been paying attention.
Most of the questions I see other parents ask about non-teacher district staff boil down to two things: what exactly do they do, and when should I go to them instead of my kid’s teacher? I’ve fumbled through this enough to have figured out a few simple things that work for me.
The first thing I do now at the start of every school year is pull up the school’s staff directory page and save the contacts for all the non-teacher staff who interact with my son daily to my phone: the bus driver, the cafeteria manager, the transportation coordinator, the crossing guard. It takes five minutes, and I don’t have to bug his teacher to forward an email when something comes up. Last year, my son’s bus was 15 minutes late every Friday for a month, because the route had changed after a driver quit. I emailed the transportation coordinator directly, and she adjusted the stop timing the next week. If I’d gone through my kid’s teacher, it would have taken three extra days just to get to the right person. My teacher told me later she gets 15 to 20 emails a week that could be answered directly by non-teacher staff, and that time adds up, taking away from lesson planning and checking in with kids about class issues.
Another thing that’s made a big difference is small, regular connection. I make a point to say hi to Ms. Rita every morning when I walk my son to the corner, and I ask the cafeteria manager how her week is going when I volunteer at the school lunch. Last year, when my son had a peanut allergy mix-up in the cafeteria, the manager fixed it before he even took a bite, because she already knew my kid’s face and his allergy from those quick chats. If you’re nervous about reaching out, you don’t need to have a long conversation. A 10-second greeting is enough to build a casual connection, so if they notice something off with your kid, they’ll feel comfortable pulling you aside to say something.
If they do something that helps your kid, a quick thank you goes a long way, and it doesn’t have to be fancy. After Ms. Rita told me about the four square incident, I brought her a $5 coffee gift card and a tin of homemade fudge before winter break. She told me she’d been working as a crossing guard for 12 years, and no parent had ever thanked her for something like that. Most non-teacher staff don’t get the kind of positive feedback that teachers get, so even a small gesture means a lot. You can also send a quick note to their supervisor if they go above and beyond, which helps them for performance reviews too.
I’ve learned that as a general rule, if your question is about classroom lessons, grades, or in-class behavior, you still go to the teacher. But if it’s about bus schedules, lunch orders, allergy accommodations, a broken desk your kid uses every day, after-school playground safety, or even a shift in mood you’ve noticed only at drop off or pick up, the non-teacher staff who interacts with your kid in that setting is almost always the best first stop. The front office secretary can even point you to the right person if you’re not sure who to contact, which is faster than looping in your teacher anyway.
Last week, I was at the elementary school playground for a birthday party, and I saw the facilities guy I met that rainy Tuesday testing the new swing set my son had been complaining was broken for months. He waved at me, and I waved back. I still don’t know his first name. That’s okay, I think. Schools aren’t just made of teachers and kids. They’re made of a whole bunch of people who show up every day, fix the broken shelves and the broken swing sets, notice when a kid is sitting alone, and make the whole place run. I’m still learning to see them, and still learning when to go to them instead of my kid’s teacher. Some days that just means remembering to check the staff directory first, and bringing an extra cookie to the crossing guard at Christmas. It’s not perfect, but it’s a start.
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