Mary Jeffery Is District's March Employee of the Month

The March Employee of the Month is Mary Jeffery, the school secretary at .

Mary, a longtime resident of Springfield, has spent the last 24 years working at Scenic Hills. First she was the computer lab aid, then a team aid and for the last 14 years she has been the school secretary, for several different principals. Mary has four daughters, all proud graduates of , and four grandchildren she loves spending time with.

The average day for an elementary school secretary is unbelievably busy. Mary answers phones, responds to emails, assists students and their parents, works with staff, manages daily substitutes, runs the main office and is the de-facto principal when the principal is off site.

“My job is to keep all our students safe, happy and ready to learn,” she said.

Mary certainly does this and much more, all with a smile. She said of the staff at Scenic Hills, “These are the most dedicated, caring and kind people you’ll ever meet – They are my second family. Scenic Hills is a great place to be.”

The staff at Scenic Hills were eager to compliment Mary.

 “I thank our lucky stars for Mary," said Kathleen Dooner, a fourth grade teacher. "Don’t be fooled: She is not just a pretty face. Scenic would turn into something like ‘slliH cinecS’ [backwards] without her, and teachers and principals alike would be aimlessly wandering the halls. 

"Every day, Mary keeps our heads on straight and puts a smile on our faces. She is one of those rarities in life; the kind you meet and you just feel like a luckier, better person for knowing her. She is the heart and soul, as well as the comedic relief, the nurturing mother, and the wise, but not old, bird of the school.”

“Without a doubt, Mary is the heart of our school," Donna Storti from the second grade added. "Her welcoming presence, as well as her eye on safety, keeps Scenic Hills a happy and safe place to be for children and adults alike. Mary does it all, and with a smile.”

Principal David Soslau, concluded by saying “Mary is the person that runs the daily operations of the school that affect everyone in the building. She does everything from fielding phone calls to screening visitors to managing substitutes to providing communication with everyone about virtually everything. 

"What makes her exceptional is her ability to do everything at once in a completely friendly way on top of the mountains of paperwork that always need attention. I like to think that all of us at Scenic Hills have a better than great chance of doing a great job every day because our partner Mary is doing an extraordinary job of making it possible for us to do so.”

For all these reasons and many more, please celebrate Mary Jeffery as the Springfield School District March Employee of the Month.

Taken from the Springfield School District website.