I’m writing in response to Phil Hutchinson’s misguided diatribe about school secretaries in the Lake Washington School District.

I have had the honor to serve as an elementary school principal in the LWSD for over 20 years. During this time I have worked with many fine, skilled, committed secretaries. The school secretary is an ambassador for the school. She greets guests, calms anxious parents, comforts frightened children, helps frantic teachers and, importantly, counsels the principal. Each day the secretary solves multiple problems “on the fly.” A substitute who has a flat tire on the way to school? She’s got it covered. A teacher who gets sick midday? She takes care of it. A parent new to the school who only speaks Tagalog? She’ll locate, quickly, a translator while graciously welcoming parent and child. A cute puppy loose on the playground? They find the owner.

All of this in addition to handling the school’s budget and assuring that we have funds to cover the entire year, submitting staff payroll, the ordering of materials and supplies, overseeing the health room, administering epi-pens to a child who is having an allergic reaction, scheduling community use of the facility, securing appropriate paperwork for volunteers including WSP backgrounds checks, accounting for the safe arrival of each student each day, sticking around after hours, often for a fair amount of time, to care for a child whose (apologetic) parent can’t leave a meeting in Seattle.

School secretaries are the heart and soul of any good school. They do much that goes unrecognized by those who are not in the school regularly. They deserve our deep respect and gratitude for all they do. They certainly “go the extra mile,” each and every single day.

Jeff Newport, Rosa Parks Elementary School