I had the opportunity to speak with Ms. Tammy, our safety administrator and sponsor of the Service 2 Service club. Ms. Tammy came to Atherton in the beginning of the 2022-2023 school year and has made it her dedication to helping and bringing safety to our school community.
What is your main job around the school?
“I am the safety administrator here at Atherton. I am responsible for every aspect of safety, which encompasses all the drills, emergency drills, such as fire, active shooter, tornado, earthquake, bombs. I’m also responsible for any threat assessments, for instance, if a student says or expects to have a weapon or a knife or make a threat against someone at school, I have to do a process of a threat assessment with that student.”
What was your main job before coming to Atherton?
“I came to Atherton the 22-23 school year. Prior to that, I had just retired from the US army in April of 2022. I was a Logistics Officer at Fort Bragg, North Carolina for the United States Army Reserve Command.”
How was the transition going from the military to working at a high school?
“So, the transition for me wasn’t as hard as some people. First of all, I used to be a teacher. I taught for 14 years, 4th grade. I stopped teaching in 2004 when I went active duty in the military, so I already had a basis of what school is like. You know, the processes of coming from the military back to the civilian world in a high school setting, it wasn’t very difficult for me.”
What made you want to work at a high school coming out of the military?
“So originally I wanted to be a junior ROTC instructor in a high school. However the year I retired, they had no positions in any of the high schools here in Louisville. A friend of mine who works for the superintendent’s office told me about this new safety administration position which had just been voted on for the 22-23 school year, and he told me with my military background and my background in general as a teacher that I would be a really good fit for that position. So I applied and that’s what brought me to Atherton.”
Ms. Tammy has made sure to keep our school safe for 3 years since she has been here. It’s been a pleasure to have Ms. Tammy leading the Service 2 Service club with military and community service. The club offers numerous events to represent military veterans and the community, including food drives, gift baskets, and much more.
