Counseling

I understand that managing 750 children's schedules is quite an ordeal. I realize that even the experts don't know where every staff member is during every moment of the day. However, the counseling department has issues, mostly those that deal with inefficiency, that are even more basic than these occasionally overwhelming responsibilities.

I help the counseling department for one period a day. They have others help them too, which in itself can be obnoxious since I may begin a task and not have time to finish it, then come back the next day only to find that someone else has a different organizational system and I have to start all over. However, I think the underlying issue lies in the fact that pretty much everything the counseling office deals with is not done expediently. For instance, the registrar or head of counseling will usually give me a task and brief directions, then leaves me to it and goes about their own business in another part of the school. Occasionally she returns before I am finished and comments upon how fast I am. But it's not as if she is giving me something terribly tedious to do. Today, for example, I was given hand-written files and asked to type out labels and affix them to the appropriate files. It was a 15 minute job. I had finished typing two labels in less than two minutes on the registrar's computer and she came back to her office because she had forgotten something, and commented upon how fast I was. Really? It's not that difficult. I was even playing around with fonts and sizes because I had 15 minutes left in the period after I finished, and of course I was not given another task to do. I really wonder sometimes what people do with their time.

Last week, I had a much longer task of separating the special ed files from the rest and still managing to keep them alphabetized by grade level. It took me several days to complete this task and I was not alone. That is understandable; that was quite a large task. However, I was told that last year the special ed files were kept separately and then they were asked (wasn't sure by whom, but obviously someone with some authority in the matter) to be included with the rest, but then that person changed his/her mind again. What a freakin' waste of time. Just keep the files where they are; stop changing things around. People have better things to do. The counseling department particularly has an incredibly important role to play in the school and they don't need to be burdened with unnecessary office work. They could be using that time more effectively to, oh, I don't know, how about *gasp!* helping students?