As the school secretary at a Pathways to Graduation program on Staten Island, Angela Gheller manages supplies, purchasing and payroll, which includes keeping track of hours, leaves and absences for her fellow UFT members.

What does a typical school secretary do?

We do a lot! Our licenses all say “school secretary,” but the schools we work in are all different.

This is my 18th year working as a school secretary and the fourth school I’ve worked in, so I’ve done it all: payroll, purchasing, providing administrative support for the principal and pupil accounting, which includes things like student records for immunization, report cards and attendance.

Depending on the size of the school and the number of secretaries, we secretaries may have multiple responsibilities.

We basically run the building. We make sure everything is running smoothly and efficiently. We’re the liaison between the staff and the administration.

As the first face every visitor sees when they enter the building, we set the tone for the school. When you see the friendly face of someone who is willing to help, it sets you at ease. I’ve always tried to be that happy face.

What’s special about a Pathways to Graduation school?

It’s part of District 79, a citywide alternative schools district. We have students ages 17 to 21 who couldn’t get through traditional high school. They come to us for a second chance. We have small class sizes, and we help students get their high school equivalency. We also help with career training and placement.

I love to watch the students succeed. This one young woman just graduated who had some family issues and it took her a few years. We were all rooting for her. When she passed her high school equivalency exam, I had tears in my eyes.

What’s the most challenging part of your work?

Enforcing all the rules we have to follow with regard to payroll. Not everyone is aware of them because there are so many.

For school secretaries, the Chancellor’s Regulations are our bible. It’s a complicated system. We keep track of it because that’s our job, and we don’t expect everyone in the school to know it as well as we do. I hate disappointing people when, for example, someone has fewer days off than they expected, or I have to mark someone late. Sometimes, as a school secretary, I feel caught in the middle. The administration sees me as UFT staff, but UFT staff see me as administration because I enforce the rules. That’s tough.

What’s your favorite part of your work?

I often get to use my knowledge to help people. Someone will come to me with an issue they don’t know how to handle, and they’re overwhelmed, and I help them. For example, a teacher came to me when her son was sick with the flu. She’d already used the three designated sick family member days in her Cumulative Absence Reserve (CAR) that year, so she was afraid she wouldn’t be able to go home and care for him. I explained that she also had three personal days in her CAR that she could use however she needed, so she went home and cared for her son. The payroll policies can be confusing, but as a school secretary, it’s my job to understand and explain them.

— As told to Hannah Brown