Courtesy of Veronica Reynolds
Florida A&M University alumna Veronica Reynolds, who serves as a school board accountant for Leon County Schools, was honored for her outstanding service when she was named School Related Employee of the Year Tuesday.
Principal of Hartsfield Elementary BJ Van Camp introduced Reynolds to the audience at the Aquilina C. Howell Instructional Services Center.
“She is a take charge, get it done kind of person,” Camp said. It is not just about doing the job. She has the heart for it. Honestly it’s that passion and that dedication for finding a way to make it work for our teachers and our students that makes her so special.”
Leon County School Board Member Dee Crumpler spoke on the importance of workers at every level of the organization.
“Often times at our school district, people just for some reason just think about the teachers. They don't think about the administrators, they don’t think about support personnel, they don't think about bus drivers, or the maintenance people,” Crumpler said. “It takes about 5000 employees in our district to keep our school running and without people like you in our school district that have to what I refer to as a service heart then our school district wouldn't be as good as it is.”
Reynolds described a typical day at the workplace.
“Every day is different. The plan is to input leave requests, order supplies, reconcile credit and bank statements depending on the time of the month,” she said. “I fulfill any requests from teachers as well as administration but that can go south really quick as I serve backup for the clinic, registrar and the secretary.”
Georgia Bowen, vice chair of Leon County School Board, appreciates Reynolds and everything she does for the school system.
“We appreciate you and the outstanding service that you provide to entire school system,” Bowen said.
Michelle Gayle, who serves as assistant superintendent of Leon County Schools, explained the process of selecting the school related employee of the year.
“We follow the state of Florida. They actually have the criteria for the school related employee of the year,” Gayle said. “All of those people have to complete a packet and they are then sent to the district.”
That information is sent to every school and department. If a is nominee meets the criteria, the committee then goes through the arduous process of redacting names. They then pick their top five people and those people are interviewed. In the end the top one is picked as school related employee of the year.
Reynolds graduated from FAMU with her Bachelor of Arts in computer information in 2004.
“I loved my experience at Florida A&M, as I am from an area that is 25 miles south of Tallahassee that is predominantly caucasian. When I stepped on the campus of Florida A&M, I quickly learned to better appreciate my African-American people and culture,” Reynolds said. “FAMU paved the way for me. When you leave FAMU, you leave with a sense of accomplishment.”
This year's Night of Celebration will be held on May 5 at the Leon County Civic Center, where teachers, the school related employee of the year and the Glenn Howell distinguished minority educator of the year will be recognized and honored.