Constant ringing of phones on top of keeping track of every kid in the school can be an extremely irritating job. Candace Morgan and Tonya Johnston, who work in the attendance office, constantly deal with the stresses of the workload. 

“It’s like a blender with a lid off, and going at full rate all the time,” said Morgan. Parents are constantly calling to check their children out, calling their kids in sick or even to clear up absences.

“Pep assembly days for sure and basically any day that is different from the normal school schedule,” said Johnston. 

“Basically, when there’s any type of school activity going on plus bad weather days,” Morgan added. A tornado warning had been issued to Derby the week before and parents were in high gear to get their kids home for the day.

“We took at least over 640 calls that day it was terrible,” said Morgan. Along with stress comes with ways to get through the work day too.

“We sing a lot and both make jokes all day to calm down,” said Johnston.

Calming down their stress isn’t the only thing Johnston and Morgan do, their attendance office has become a place for a lot of students to come and say hello or talk out an issue.

“If it’s overwhelming we usually tell people to get out and go, but some students just need it, to sit in here with us and talk,” said Johnston.