There are many support staff positions at SHS, but in the end, they all ensure that the students have everything they need to succeed.
“We could not operate this building without our support staff,” Assistant Principal John Morse said. “They are very valued individuals.”
Although they may not be directly recognized, support staff members guide and aid students throughout the school year. No matter their position, they help students however they can.
Some examples of these support staff are interpreters, instructional aids, success coaches and many more.
For example, the EL translators at SHS, Mildrid Delgado and Jose Solis, do more than just translate for the EL students. Delgado focuses on the academic portion with the students while Solis focuses more on the administrative parts.
“So I’m the one who places the majority of the phone calls, sits in the meetings (and) goes down to Student Services,” Solis said.
Another example is Success Coach Austin Lundsford. He mainly focuses on helping the students academically this year. He’s also part of the disciplinary team. Not only does Lundsford do more than help students, he also does bus duty and has many office responsibilities.
“I am one of the people on the discipline team, so I manage student behavior sometimes, but we are moving towards my position being more of an academic support,” Lundsford said. “So we are trying to identify students who are struggling … and create interventions before they start to fall behind.”
Unlike teachers who are employed by the district, SHS support staff are personally hired by Assistant Principals Eric Woodke, Matt Weimer and Morse. Overall, Woodke is in charge of hiring the regular support staff. This includes instructional aids, interpreters, study hall monitors and more. However, Weimer and Morse hire support staff who will work at Student Services. Some of these positions include the Student Services clerk and success coach.
There are times when they find it difficult to find people to hire. For context, the starting pay is near the pay of other jobs which are more simple.
However, most of the time it’s not the pay that is a problem, it’s being able to find people who are interested in working in a school or seeking experience in a school to be able to pursue their dream job.
For example, the math instructional aid position is hard to fill, according to Woodke, because it is hard to find candidates who can instruct high school math at a comfortable level.
Even though it is hard to find and keep the support staff they continue to strive for student success both within and out of the school.
“In general, the support staff here is fantastic,” Woodke said. “Many of them are involved in the school. They are assistant coaches, coaches, athletic club sponsors (and) assistant sponsors with clubs. They work tickets and events and come to things.”
