Here is Some Advice

One of the areas that I was first assigned as an assistant principal was with those that worked in the counseling office. There were not enough counselors for the number of students that we had at the school, but all of the schools in Alpine School District were facing the same problems. Orem High had four counselors and one secretary. They were overworked and had a difficult time with all of the reports that were always being required.

One of the most arduous times of the year was during registration. Students would sign up for a class and then decide that they wanted to change to a different one. It was often because that was where their boyfriend or girlfriend was going to be, but the counselors just kept going to get the job done, like the energizer bunny.

When a student decided to change what class they were taking there was a five-dollar transfer fee that was charged for the change that was made. This was all fine, with the district and the school. This did not keep student from making class changes for the first two or three weeks of a term, especially at the first of the year.

I talked to the counselors and found that they were working with a large number of students wanting changes. I knew from what they said that it would slow down after the first two or three weeks of school. I was also over the secretaries, and I was worried about the number of entries they had to make for each student that was changing classes. As I talked to the financial secretary, she said that she hadn’t made any deposits from any class changes.

I called one of the counselors and asked why the money for class changes was not arriving at the financial secretary’s desk. She said, “Wait a minute,” and called in another counselor, and then we resumed the conversation. Apparently, they had been keeping the money in the counseling office for activities and things that they might need to purchase. I informed them that all monies received from students, parents or any other place had to be accounted for with the financial secretary. I then told them that they needed to take all of the money down to the secretary and deposit it in the school account where it belonged.

Orem High Administration Carl J. Stubbs, Richard Belliston,
Tim Brantley, John Child, Kay Smith

We then ended the conversation. About four or five minutes later I could hear over the speaker on my phone the head counselor talking to my boss, the principal. She called me a few choice words, and then asked the principal to remove me from being over the counselors and let them check on themselves as they had been doing for years. The principal said that keeping money that belonged to the school without it going through the financial office was not only wrong, it was illegal. He told her he was not aware of any money being kept anywhere without first going through the main office. He indicated that he would have to call me and tell me to take care of the problem. At that time, I finally spoke up and said “I’m right here.” She then realized that she had left her phone on conference call. I indicated that I would be right down. She hung up, and was in my office before I could even decide exactly was going to say.

 The rule at that time was that anyone messing with the district’s money without their permission was subject to immediate removal to a district hearing to be let go. We were able to work out the problem without a lot of bloodshed. The problem was resolved, and I was able to work closely with them. I was new, and they were all good friends of the principal, but he did not interfere. Later I asked him if he really didn’t know about the slush funds that were being kept by several different groups in the school. He said he knew, but it was my job to take care of it. I was to find that several areas were keeping a little and sometimes not so little supply of cash in their departments. It all ended, and they all agreed to live by the rules set by the district and on occasion, the law. Many of them, and I understood, felt that they needed a little money on hand for different expenses. I started in this new job pretty much sure that I was a friend and well-liked by the whole faculty and staff. I saw that this was changing a little bit. I didn’t like being in charge and stopping some things that had been going on for years, things that should have been stopped long before I showed up in administration.

Did I get dumped on to do jobs no one else would do? Probably, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles.