Classified School Employee Week

Classified School Employees Week brings the intentional work of classified employees into the spotlight

by Matt Murphy

Classified employees are accustomed to working out of the spotlight, performing the most vital and crucial roles to keep California’s schools running and children safe.

California’s Classified School Employees Week is an annual event during the third week of May dedicated to shining a light on classified employees and celebrating the invaluable contributions you make to your schools.

It’s a week of celebrations, events, and bringing awareness to others about what makes classified employees so special.

“All of the work preparing for this is worth it,” said Lisette Robles, outreach specialist at Sierra Linda Elementary School, who organized CSEW events for Oxnard Elementary Chapter 272. “Everyone does so much every day, having a chance to show them they’re appreciated is special.”

Each year, chapters from each Area are also nominated to take part in the Appreciating Classified Employees program to bring them into the spotlight and showcase their solidarity and pride at their districts and school sites.

“I think most of us would love to have somebody come and see how intentional the choices that we make are.”

-Heidi Trevisan, Librarian, Christa McAuliffe Elementary

Oxnard 272 was one of 10 chapters nominated this year and held a large catered celebration at the Oxnard School District office to bring members together.

The highlight of the ACE program each year are the job shadow events, when administrators and school leaders from other sites come to follow a classified employee throughout their day and get a firsthand look at the work they do.

“I think most of us would love to have somebody come and see how intentional the choices that we make are,” said Christa McAuliffe Elementary Librarian Heidi Trevisan, who was shadowed during CSEW. “What story do we choose to read, is the story going to be just as engaging for a second grader as it is for a third grader, how the furniture is arranged, the way we engage with students.”

Jorge Mares, principal at Sierra Linda Elementary School, was at McAuliffe Elementary to shadow Heidi and had a front row seat to the kind of indispensable care and attention classified employees like Heidi bring to their students.

“The library is the most important place on campus,” he said. “It’s a place students need to want to be, and you can tell she’s created that here.”

Heidi’s school library is full of deliberate and intentional choices that make her dedication to her students clear.

Each book is turned outwards with its binding clearly visible, to make it easier for children to pick out what they’re looking for. There isn’t a worn or damaged book in sight, a testament to her diligence constantly refreshing the school’s selection.

“The library is the most important place on campus. It’s a place students need to want to be, and you can tell she’s created that here.”

-Jorge Mares, Principal, Sierra Linda Elementary

A Bluetooth speaker sits plugged in on a shelf near a bench in the reading area. Heidi uses it in conjunction with an app called Novel that uses voice recognition to play sound and background effects to go along with her reading. The app costs about $100 each year and she pays for it herself since to her, the benefit it provides to students at McAuliffe outweighs the personal financial cost.

She does all this year after year, continually doing the small things that an adult walking into a room may not notice but is immediately impactful to a child, in relative anonymity.

California School Employees Week though, is not about anonymity.

It’s about classified employees like Heidi across the state having a chance to step into the spotlight and receive the credit they so deserve for the roles they play.

CSEW and the ACE program are an opportunity to bring awareness to the impact and importance classified employees having on students’ school experience.

“Campus assistants, cafeteria workers, paraeducators, they see those kids as much as teachers,” she explained. “It’s super important that everyone start thinking of the whole staff as one team that’s here for the betterment of the children.”