October 22, 2009School district assistant and official wisdom

Filed under: Admin Assistants by merylrunion |

I recently spoke to the administrative assistants for a local school district. Often at lunch I will share some added tidbits of the knowledge and skills I have obtained in my years of training and writing. But this time I listened. I was happy to hear the wisdom these caring professionals displayed.

Once upon a time, when kids got into trouble, the parents would generally come down on the side of school officials. Not any more. Now, many parents jump in to defend their kids without considering the evidence. I had heard this before, but what I hadn’t heard was how school officials manage to stay open to the real needs of the kids even when parents are criticizing them unfairly.

One remark struck me most deeply. An official told his assistant,

There’s a kid behind every complaint, so put those calls through to me.

This and several other remarks inspired me. When someone comes down unfairly against you, it’s so easy to come back unfairly against them. These people manage to keep the needs and interests of the children they serve in priority. I salute them.