Attendance secretary Carla Garvey is Lynbrook High School’s secret weapon. A one-woman show, she helps keep all students throughout the building accounted for each day. Not only that, but Garvey’s smiling face–set against the backdrop of the photos of peaceful puppies and soothing nature scenes that line her office–also serves as a tranquil welcome to students each day.
Maintaining attendance for an entire school building was not Garvey’s first job in the Lynbrook School District; in fact, she used to work as a special education aide at Marion Street, which was a job she deeply enjoyed. As it was impossible to know whether there would be students enrolled each year in the school to assist, Garvey decided to pursue a different path, taking her civil service test and eventually securing a position at LHS in May 2013. “I [still] get to see the students, I get to talk to the parents, just in a different way,” she explained. Now, Garvey’s final year at LHS is coming to a close, prompting a reflection into her time here over the last 12 years.
Garvey is responsible for all of the inner workings of the school’s attendance system. She takes phone calls and receives emails, corresponding with parents and students to ensure that all students in the building are accounted for. She is the omnipotent voice on the loudspeaker asking teachers to check their emails, and calling students down to go home. There is nothing like hearing Garvey’s peaceful voice notify you of your exodus–the sweet solace of a designated departure during school hours.
Garvey believes that the most valuable trait for working in the attendance office is unrelenting patience. Principal Matthew Sarosy remarked on Garvey’s meticulous methods that hold the building together: “To be responsible for the attendance in a fully open-campus high school is a job that has its challenges, but she has, from the moment she got here, created systems to make that flow much more consistently.” To keep accurate records, Garvey always has meticulous digital files open on her computer–charts full of names of every student in the building–which she then sends out at the end of the day to all faculty. This notifies teachers of missing students during the day, verifies absence logs, and makes sure that the building keeps running. “Everyone knowing where everyone is makes life easier,” Garvey explained.
Being an accurate record-keeper is not the only responsibility Garvey holds; in fact, she believes her most important job is being a supporter to students and parents. “Sometimes when kids come in and they’ve had a rough morning, I just feel for them, and I just tell them I hope they have a nice day,” Garvey mused. Senior Bobbie Applebaum remarked on the warmth she feels whenever she interacts with Garvey: “She’s always been such a sweetheart.”
Working in the attendance office has also made Garvey reflect deeply on what it means to watch students grow and how educators can support them during the difficult period that is adolescence. “I’ve learned that we as adults should really look into kids and how they’re feeling,” Garvey explained. “And sometimes what you see–anger or standoffish-ness–is kind of a facade. Sometimes they just need a friendly face or a kind word, and that really makes a difference,” Garvey reflected.
This engagement with students applies to even the most menial of moments, Garvey explained. Being able to keep up to date with students–current life happenings, their hopes and dreams–delights Garvey. “Seeing the kids and talking to the kids is my absolute favorite. You know, who’s going for their road test, and who’s asking who to prom,” she posited.
Garvey also has collected many funny stories over the years, including far too vivid descriptions of stool-related accidents to students getting fishing hooks stuck in their hands. “So many funny things happen that you really wish you wrote them down,” Garvey reminisced. “It’s kind of like having kids. If you have children, just write things down. Because I’m telling you, you try to remember all the funny things and they’re just not there,” Garvey advised.
Working in the attendance office has also alluded to more philosophical revelations for Garvey. Watching students come in stressed about the future has shown her that there really should be more to the way our society treats the proposition of working toward life after high school. She offered one essential piece of advice: “Don’t take things so seriously, and enjoy the present because things really do go by so quickly.” She reflected, “The focus on college, I get it, but it’s just so hard because you’re so young and you’re supposed to know what to do with your life. And I feel like the minute you enter high school, everything is geared toward college. And it shouldn’t be like that; you look back and you think ‘Oh my god, I wasted the whole of high school worrying about college.’ It shouldn’t be like that. It should be more in the moment.” The easiest way to live in the moment, Garvey emphasized, is to spend more time in nature and less on technology. “Get outside, enjoy the Earth and everything we’re so blessed to have,” she said.
In her retirement, Garvey plans to spend lots of time with her grandsons: “Starting right away, I’m going to be a full-time grandma. My daughter has three boys: Camden, Blake, and Weston. So it’s going to be busy, but I love it.” Furthermore, she plans to take many trips, fulfilling her dreams of visiting many national parks and scenic places, much like those in pictures that have lined her office walls.
Though Sarosy is sad to see Garvey go, he will forever appreciate her dedication to her work: “She will be a huge loss, but I’m also very grateful because I think whoever does take over after her [is] inheriting something that is just in a completely different [league]. And if they take that and keep running with it, they’ll do well.”
