She started at Linden nine years ago as part of the lunch staff. When a bus monitor position opened, she applied and earned the job. After a few years she saw another chance for growth as Linden’s bus liaison and one more as the family liaison.
“I enjoy what I do,” she said. “Every time I see an opportunity I'd wonder, ‘can I do that?’ I'm a type of person that when I see growth or opportunity, I try to go for it.”
Mills’ thirst for growth has allowed her to impact Linden students and families in a variety of ways. She has a photographic memory of the bus routes from the repetition of processing applications and can recite each student’s stop if needed. She encourages kids to have a good day as they arrive in the morning, and on the way home she reminds them of safety procedures and proper conduct on the bus and outside of school.
Ordinarily a call to parents from the bus liaison would come as a result of a student misbehaving. Mills does have to make those calls, but also makes a point to let parents know that their child displayed good behavior, like when one student talked their friend out of a bad decision.
“When I see a kid doing a good thing, I do affirm them so that they can encourage others to do it,” she said.
As family liaison, Mills helps families in need with their living situation, makes sure students have access to clean uniforms and also is available to talk if someone is having a bad day and needs a reset. And if an area of the school is momentarily short-staffed, there’s a good chance she is there to help however she can.
“When they have that bad day in the classroom, they send them to me and I have that conversation with them to see if I can get their day turned around,” she said. “I like to jump in wherever I can.”
Whatever situation arises, Mills makes sure to promptly keep parents in the know. Her dedication is a big reason why Linden has outperformed the district for 14 years.
“I never leave a parent wondering because I'm a parent myself and I know that the next day takes so long to come by when you’re worried about something with your child,” she said. “I’m always jumping on anything that’s brought to my attention. I’m a parent first, so I understand how it feels to have to wait for the school to open up the next day to figure out what happened.”
Keep up the excellent work, Ms. Mills!
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Linden Charter Academy
Linden Charter Academy is a tuition-free, public charter school in Flint, Michigan, serving students in kindergarten through eighth grade. It is part of the National Heritage Academies (NHA®) network, which includes more than 100 tuition-free, public charter schools serving more than 65,000 students in kindergarten through 12th grade across nine states. For more information, visit nhaschools.com.
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