At a school with a population exceeding 2,000 students, the behind-the-scenes efforts at BVH that go into the daily operations of running the school are far more complex than the average student might realize. Factors such as absences are able to create a ripple effect that impacts both academic progress for students and funding that keeps the campus running. At the center of these logistics are the school’s two new Attendance Coordinators, history teacher Sean Tessada and science teacher Jennifer Ekstein. They are expected to take on the role of Attendance Coordinator next year as well, though no further details are available at this time they are giving students a look at the “nuts and bolts” it takes to maintain and upkeep the school.

“Principal Dr. Alexander Salazar knows that I am wanting to be an administrator and told me [that] this would be a really good opportunity to learn about the ‘nuts and bolts’ about what happens outside the classroom,” Ekstein said. “If you become an AP or principal, you are in charge of the nuts and bolts of the school which means absences, attendance and students that struggle. For me, I am getting valuable experience behind the scenes to help the school run.”

Stepping into administration roles means learning about a side of campus that most teachers never have to deal with. Most students know that Tessada and Ekstein both work in very different departments. Tessada is a familiar face in the history department, teaching high-level courses like History of the Americas (HOTA) and AP World History. Meanwhile, Ekstein stays busy in the science labs teaching classes like Biology and acting as the advisor for the Youth 4 A Sustainable Future club. Tessada notes that surviving the year requires a tedious organization and the agility to prioritize tasks whenever unexpected distractions arise.

“It is really hard to balance and you have to be compartmentalized and really organized. I have to be intentional with what I am doing with my time [and] that has been the key to me surviving this year,” Mr. Tessada said. “When you are a teacher, there are 50,000 distractions and all of a sudden you will be piled with something else at the last minute, so you have to pivot and prioritize.”

Managing two major roles requires an incredible amount of focus and a very strict schedule. Both Tessada and Ekstein agree that the job demands of them to constantly switch between grading assignments and looking at complicated attendance data. The technical side of the attendance office is much more complicated than many students might realize, requiring training in programs such as Infinite Campus to run reports and even use math to figure out how students can clear their absences. Every decision they make is an effort in following district rules and helping a student clear their record.

“I came in expecting to not know anything at all and everything kind of surprised me because we had eighty contracts we had to focus on alongside Saturday school,” Tessada said. “I just remember being surprised because this can really back up if you are not really on it, which is why you are seeing the surge to get this software figured out now.”

Due to an overwhelming backlog in the system, both Tessada and Ekstein had to work through barriers and obstacles  to ensure that issues such as systematic delays are not brought up in the future. Seniors like Susana Gonzalez, a technological helper who specializes in paperwork, contributes to the daily operations and depicts how her job can be challenging.

“My responsibilities as an attendance tech helper are to pass out off-campus slips around the campus and file the emails parents send to keep records,” Gonzalez said. “Last month the filing cabinet got filled and we needed to get a new one, and while that was getting ordered, we could not file a lot of students because there are always many slips to [input].”

Gonzalez’s experience shows the reality of the office, from filing thousands of slips to dealing with parents who show up at the very last minute to sign students out. Having reliable student helpers makes it possible for the attendance tech to focus on the bigger administrative tasks, such as serving as the primary contact for parents clearing absences or setting up independent study contracts. Even though balancing two jobs is a lot of work, Tessada and Ekstein see this “chaos” as a necessary step for their future careers. Their ability to handle responsibilities as both teachers and attendance managers shows how much they care about making the school better for everyone.

“I was very thankful to pass on the AP and IB to amazing teachers while I am allowed to explore the administration side of what I want to do in the future,” Ekstein added. “We are both looking at that next step in our career, and this is a great experience where you learn how attendance works and how the school functions in a way you do not normally see.”