Supervisors are employed to keep students safe, which sometimes means confronting issues students create on campus. However, it should not be their job to put up with back-talk or insults by the student body.
Supervisors deal with stressful duties like helping unmannerly parents at the drop-off line in the mornings, and sending angry students in for discipline when they break the rules.
“I have had kids flip me off and say ‘F*** you’ while walking across campus. I’ve had parents flip me off and say ‘F*** you’ in the traffic line or at ball games,” said campus supervisor Kim Jenson.
Despite being mistreated, our supervisors graciously practice empathy and understanding with students.
“I’ve been doing this for 16 years and more often than not, there’s something going on behind the scenes with upset students. Not everybody is having a great home life. Not everybody is having a great school life. Sometimes it’s just a kid that’s being a jerk, but what I find in my experience is usually there’s something that’s not 100% happy in that student’s life or home life,” said Jenson.
“Kids get upset because we’re authority, that’s it. They are really good kids for the most part. A lot of the kids that are repeat offenders just want our attention, they want to talk. They want attention and maybe they aren’t getting it at home, maybe they just aren’t feeling good about themselves, so we try to help them,” said campus supervisor Tracy Micalizzi.
Our supervisors are just here to do their jobs, and we are incredibly lucky that they are so thoughtful and forgiving. It would relieve many issues if students would make peace with their authority, and understand that supervisors are simply trying to keep us safe.
“Seeing kids yell at adults for doing their jobs is wild. The supervisors are there to maintain order and keep people safe. They are there to hold you accountable, not antagonize you,” said student Gray Radojicic.
The disrespect towards our supervisors is unwarranted. Their duties entail much more than we realize.
“There is a big psychological side of my job where I deal with students who have come and confided in me about abuse in the home and I’ve had to report that . . . I’ve had students say to me ‘I wished last night that I wouldn’t wake up this morning.’ There are all the emotional things that tug on my heart that a lot of the times people don’t realize we deal with. And I’m not the only campus supervisor, we’ve all had similar situations like that. That’s not in our job description but that’s some of the other stuff that we deal with besides tardy bells and traffic lines,” said Jenson.
A supervisor’s job is demanding and requires impressive emotional reflexes and instincts. During Micalizzi’s interview with The Express, a student had a meltdown in the quad. Micalizzi immediately took off after the student and got him to a safe place with another staff member that could help him calm down.
Students must understand that supervisors are not here to target anyone or get them in trouble, but to simply maintain a standard of safety on campus.
“… we can’t allow poor behavior on campus. That isn’t acceptable because if we let everybody go then it would not lead to a good situation,” said Micalizzi.
SJHHS Supervisors work to ensure students are happy, healthy, and safe, so the least students can do is to treat them as human beings. Supervisors recognize that many students have personal struggles that make the day harder to get through, and students should strive to express the same understanding. They deserve gratitude and kindness, as does any other person.
It would be commendable for students to appreciate the dedication our supervisors have to their jobs instead of getting irritated with them. When we are in danger on campus, they are the ones on the front lines protecting us.
“I learned early in doing this that I’m a fight person, not a flight person, so when I get in the mode, like when we went into lockdown, I’m hyper focused on the situation at hand,” said Jenson.
Our self-sacrificial supervisors absolutely do not deserve to be tormented. Every day, supervisors endure numerous unkind encounters; they do not deserve any more. Students have the ability to treat them with kindness and make their days better.
