Admin Assistants are the K12 MVP

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If the year is a wheel, each school’s main office is one of the spokes. It connects every single person in the district and beyond. And the folks who staff the main office? Administrative assistants are the backbone of a great experience at school. They may fly under the radar, but here’s how K12 administrative assistants make school a better place for students and staff.

 

Data and reporting

Administrative assistants are trusted with keeping records for students and staff. Their access to student information system (SIS) and enterprise resource system (ERP) data is an important part of the health of both systems. Admin assistants are the people entering data: whether it’s enrollment, attendance, classroom assignments, schedules, and much more.

When school districts rely on SIS and ERP data to function, administrative assistants’ roles in data entry, data mining, and creating reports are crucial. More importantly, administrative assistants need a close and comfortable relationship with both the edtech systems they use and the vendor support teams who are standing by to help.

 

Resources for students, staff, and teachers

In addition to being the experts on data resources, administrative assistants are the eyes, ears, and hearts of the school district. Education experts in the main office are always fielding questions from all angles: students, staff, parents, the community, the district office, and more.

Connecting people to resources they need is a way of life for these pros, and no challenge is too big. Check out the ways schools support families at home as well.

Finally, ever wonder who creates the beautiful educational data analytics teachers rely on to tell a comprehensive story of student achievement? You guessed it: the data stewards are also the data wizards conjuring up a picture of how students are progressing at school. These visualizations help teachers communicate with families and administrators communicate to the school board and external stakeholders.

 

Attendance and calendar

One of the main functions folks think of when administrative assistants are brought up are tardy passes, fielding calls about sick students, notifying families of excessive absences, and other attendance functions.

This is a huge chunk of the main office work, but probably not in the way most people think.

Instead, keep in mind the volume of students and grown-ups coming in and out of school. Someone came in late and needs a pass. Someone else forgot their lunch but their parents dropped it off for them. All this communication funnels through only two or three people—multiply that by a whole school’s population and that’s a ton of things to keep straight.

So while attendance might seem like a gimme to the uninitiated (“Bueller…? Bueller…?”), it’s actually a great way to save time and effort with the right tools and processes. Learn about positive attendance and see how much time it could save staff in your district.

 

Parent communication and engagement

Again, the main office is the central hub of all knowledge in a school. If parents are to remain connected and engaged, this falls on educators to keep the momentum going—but it also requires a sharp and responsive administrative assistant.

These folks are at school bright and early and often stay late or help out with different back-to-school events, practices, club meetings, community activities, and wrap-around care. Even if other educators are running instruction and enrichment, someone’s gotta be there to answer the front door.

When you’re talking about making life in K12 easier, this is the true measure. Does it make life easier for the administrative assistants to make life easier for everyone else?
 

Follow-up resource: Admin assistants in action

See how automating everyday tasks can improve daily life in the school office.

 
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