Behind the scenes

The policies instituted at Carlmont are just the tip of the iceberg of how administrators run the operations. From food distribution measures to emergency meetings requiring attendance, many of these behind-the-scenes events happen daily, without the student body ever knowing of them. 

“Just because you don’t see somebody, all the time, or interact with them doesn’t mean they’re not doing something, and that’s pretty common for people to think, you know, out of sight out of mind a little bit,” Patner said. “There’s a lot of work, especially this year… you’re working at a breakneck speed to get caught up and do all the different nuances.”

As this is the first time in a year and a half that students are back on campus completely, it has become an adjustment for administrators and staff to tackle more immediate problems since last school year was a distance-learning environment. Unlike last year, safety needs are more vital than ever. 

Adapting to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and San Mateo County guidelines, Carlmont has had to continuously update its safety guidelines and policies to make sure the learning environment is safe for all. 

The safety needs of Carlmont’s population also include the well-being of all students. Counselors and adult staff members are there to talk with and aid students in need.

“To be safe, physically and emotionally, so the most important one is that you feel safe here, you feel connected, and you feel you have adults you can turn to for advice and support and help,” Crame said.

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Catherine Eikelbarner

This conversing between staff members is something that the local student population may not see every day.

Another aspect of the different administrator’s duties that might have been unknown to the general student population was that the specific tasks they each have to deal with are not always a part of their regular agendas. Requirements of unexpected behavioral assessments, complaints about a particular issue, or campus check-ins add to an administrator’s plate throughout the day. However, they are all assigned different tasks around campus, excluding emergencies. 

Crame oversees facilities and much of the daily operations of staff on campus while also making the final decisions about any lingering conflict. Patner handles issues pertaining to ninth and 11th grades while also overseeing accommodation plans and food services. Stuenenberg has to take care of issues within the 10th and 12th grades and oversees athletics and decision-making by having conversations with others.

With Stuenenberg’s position, as for many of the staff on campus, decision-making for more significant issues or situations is usually circumstantial. This is due to the need for others’ opinions to be collected and taken into consideration.

“[For] all big decisions, we sit down as an admin team and go over them,” Stuenenberg said. “We meet twice a week, and those are the meetings we have, making sure that we’ve considered all the possibilities.”

Students are consumed in their school duties such as homework, team sports, clubs, and more, and might not consider all of the factors that go into running a school and making the experience the same for all. This perception is not the case as many of the staff’s jobs help create a more effective, creative, and friendly school lifestyle.