As a teacher, I worked in one classroom at one school in the same district I grew up in. A decade after leaving my classroom, I’ve worked with 1,000s of school districts across the globe.
Support Staff Should Support
It’s given me a new perspective. And the thing that sticks out most is this:
- In some districts, the support staff bends over backwards for teachers.
- In others, teachers bend over backwards for support staff.
I most often see it with tech people and purchasing departments. In some districts, these support staff somehow run the show. The IT department is making educational decisions – when they should be making sure the darn internet works.
At my own school, I now realize that the teachers bent over backwards for the custodial staff. We ended up moving our own desks because we didn’t want to bother them. This is simply a failure of leadership. Our principal was weak and allowed the support staff to take over.
If you have strong leadership, they will not-so-gently remind the support staff that their only job is to support teachers! Suddenly, websites will be unlocked, orders will be fulfilled, desks will be moved.
See, the thing to remember is: the best tech people in the world are not working at school districts. The best tech people are off making tons of money solving interesting fun and interesting problems. Your school district had to hire whomever was left. Likewise with accountants and lawyers and, heck, even custodians.
And that’s fine. Obviously school districts can’t complete with silicon valley for IT people. But that’s why it’s so dangerous when school districts allow support staff to take over! These folks often don’t even know their own field. I have a degree in computer science. I’ve been running the tech behind Byrdseed since 2009. When tech people email me, it’s very very very obvious that they don’t know what they’re talking about.
When accountants tell me, “This 35-page form is a new law,” I know enough to at least check to see if the law exists. (Often it doesn’t! Or it doesn’t apply to my business.)
It’s like if a student tells you their dog at the homework. You’d at least verify that they have a dog, right?
So, if you, as a teacher, find yourself bending over for the support staff, send an email up the chain. There’s bound to be someone in leadership who’s willing to make things right.