Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, April 24, 1995 TAG: 9504260009
SECTION: NEWSFUN PAGE: NF-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LISA SMITH STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
So it is for Tina Ford, secretary at Oakland Elementary School in Roanoke; Peggy Board, secretary at Crystal Spring Elementary in Roanoke; and Bonnie Dowdy, school secretary at Herman L. Horn Elementary in Roanoke County. There are days when they do the work of a mom, a secretary, a nurse, a guidance counselor and a principal.
When pupils at Oakland Elementary School were asked what Ford did for them during the day, Michael Rosser, a fifth-grader said, "she gives me medicine."
Said Bo Weeks, a fourth-grader, "she gives us money for lunch when we don't got it." Another fifth-grader, Jovito Vaughn, said, "she helps out when you have a problem." And Brittany Barlow, who's in fourth grade, says, "she makes us kinda feel better." When asked how Ford accomplished that, Brittany replied, "she cheers us up."
For Ford, those duties are only scratching the surface. A typical day begins when she gives medicine prescribed by doctors, not only to Michael Rosser, but to 19 other children. She takes attendance, distributes the mail, gets the money together for textbooks and field trips and takes care of sick children until their moms or dads come to pick them up. And she takes over for the principal when he is out of the office.
Ford's busiest days are when the pupils are there, because her job is based around the them. But when the pupils aren't there, like on teacher workshop days or on those days when the entire school is on a field trip, it is usually catch-up day for her. That means she has time to do paperwork that has piled up.
The training that Tina Ford needed to be a secretary included bookkeeping, typing and stenography. The computer skills, which are necessary now in the field, were learned on the job, through courses offered by the technology department of the Roanoke City Schools.
Many of the teachers at Oakland showed their appreciation for Ford last August by giving her a surprise birthday present. It surprised Ford, all right, because her birthday wasn't until October. The present was tickets to a Michael Bolton concert, and that's why she was honored so early.
Their appreciation not only is expressed by actions, but in words. As Sandra Goad, a school aide, put it, "I don't know where we'd be without her." And Carroll Smith, the principal, said, "If it wasn't for her, it [the school] wouldn't run."
Peggy Board, secretary at Crystal Spring, moved to Roanoke about five years ago with her 8-year-old son, Ishmael. For Board, the experience of being a school secretary is an experience totally different from anything she had ever done before. Board majored in business administration at Temple and Antioch universities in Philadelphia. When she came to Roanoke, she sent her resume around and the first response she got was from the school system.
As with Ford, Board does many different things.
She, too, fields complaints about upset stomachs, problems with friends and scraped knees. But when it is time to take attendance, collect money for books and field trips, make daily bank deposits, order supplies for the school, and answer the telephone, she switches into her secretary mode.
The teachers, children and parents also have shown Board their appreciation. Last year during National Secretaries Week, K-92 and Applebee's restaurant held a contest for the secretary of the year. Without her knowledge, she was nominated by the teachers, pupils and parents. She won, and was awarded a free lunch for her and her boss on Secretaries Day, plus a free lunch once a month for a year.
Ashley Choate, a teaching assistant at Crystal Spring, says that "without her, the school wouldn't run properly." And the principal, Marsha Christy, says Board "is an excellent secretary" and she "does her job well."
For Bonnie Dowdy, secretary for Herman L. Horn, the day's duties are similar to Board's and Ford's.
During Secretaries Week, Dowdy says she's always remembered. She's received a rose from a child and a potted plant from the school. Some teachers have the pupils write her cards or letters.
Susan Reynolds, the assistant principal, says Dowdy, "meets everyone with a smile" and is "always ready to help in any way she can."
At Oakland there are 160 pupils; at Crystal Spring, 301. Ford and Board know each pupil and parent by name. At Horn, there are 500 students, but surprisingly Bonnie Dowdy says she knows a majority of the students by name.
Even though both Board and Ford didn't plan on being secretaries, they say the support from the parents and teachers has made the job rewarding for them and now they wouldn't change a thing.
As for Dowdy, she has been with Herman L. Horn since 1973, taking five years off to stay with her own children . The support she gets from the teachers and the principal is what has made her stay at the school for so many years, she said.
by CNB