All students have seen them on campus, but getting to know them is a different story. Campus control spends countless hours making sure the students are safe. Not only do they patrol the campus, they ensure students are in class to maximize their education, as well as countless other tasks. Here is their perspective on their job at the school.
The four campus control staff, George Mares, who has been at the school since its opening, Kathy Elgohary, who has been at the school since its opening, Jessica Torres, who has worked at the school for two years and Johnny Zavala, who is starting his second year at Portola High, work together everyday. They split their time between the auditorium entrance, gym entrance, administration and generally patrolling the campus, according to Mares. They tell students who are out of class without permission to head back to class to make sure that they are safe at all times.
Students tend to forget that campus security is required to always put student safety first, according to Mares, which sometimes leads to them receiving backlash from learners who do not understand that it is part of their job.
“The hardest part is trying not to come off as the bad guy,” Mares said. “I’m always trying my hardest to tell the kids to get back to class, which is something they need to do, even though they get mad. Also, kids being disrespectful, taking them to the office—I don’t like taking anyone to the office. I try to avoid it, but there’s things that you have to do.”
The four of them do more than just directing traffic during busy mornings. They help students find their belongings if they lost them, cover classrooms and build relationships with the students, according to Torres. She said that her favorite part of her job is her team, which she spends everyday differently with.
“We get along really well,” Torres said. “We’re like a family, a second family.”
Students often forget that they have lives separate from school, with feelings and stories of their own, according to Zavala.
“I think we all have our own personalities,” Zavala said. “I think if they got to know us in some different way, [other] than just authoritatively, they will see that we all have a good personality. We just want what’s best for them here on campus just like everybody else. I think, on campus, as an adult, we want you guys to have the best high school career possible.”
