Imagine that you’re a high school principal. Your checklist is growing longer by the day, your anxiety is overpowering the need to sleep at night, and your mind has a million different things hidden in every crevice. Every hour, Monday through Friday, countless people stop by your door asking for additional information, needing a break from work, or having complaints. How can you manage all this?

While this is not an impossible scenario, it may be a difficult one. This is where people like Susan Rodriguez, the principal’s secretary at Townsend Harris High School, come into play.

Ms. Rodriguez has been working as Principal Brian Condon’s secretary for over eight years. Managing and organizing all of Mr. Condon’s interviews and meetings and reminding teachers and staff about the hidden elements before school-wide events, Ms. Rodriguez speaks with countless students, teachers, parents, and DOE officials all throughout the school year. But while her role has a major impact on Mr. Condon and the school community on a daily basis, Ms. Rodriguez said she didn’t always know that she wanted to be a principal’s secretary. She said she just “wanted to do more.”

After graduating from Jamaica High School in 1980, she attended Farmingdale State College and then joined the workforce, working as the assistant to the Vice President of Merrill Lynch at the time. Then, later, after gaining some more work experience in a few other industries, she got married and decided to become a stay-at-home mom.

But when her youngest child was five, she rejoined the workforce, working as a school aide at Flushing High School. “[But] I thought I was capable of doing more,” she said. “I knew I wanted to become more involved in the administrative part of things.”

Ms. Rodriguez said inspiration came from her mother, a former school secretary herself, who insisted that she also try to become a secretary to have a work-life balance. “You have all summer off, you can be with the kids, [and] you have every vacation,” said Ms. Rodriguez.

Therefore, she took a three-part assessment, consisting of a written exam, an in-person interview, and a dictation exam, to get her secretary license. To prepare for the dictation portion, she said she took a few classes to improve her transcription speed.

After successfully passing the test, Ms. Rodriguez became the principal’s secretary at Flushing High School, where she worked with five different principals until she came to Townsend Harris. After she arrived at THHS, she worked alongside Principal Anthony Barbetta and, a few years later, Interim-Acting Principal Rosemarie Jahoda, before beginning her work with Mr. Condon in 2016. “[Mr. Condon] is the eighth principal in total that I’ve worked for. Probably I’ll retire and he will be my last,” she said.

Throughout the years, THHS teachers, students, and staff began to recognize her work and the silent impact she had on the school building. In an interview with The Classic, Mr. Condon repeatedly praised Ms. Rodriguez for her outstanding, consistent work throughout the school year, especially during busy months, like May and June. He said that due to Ms. Rodriguez’s help, he’s able to focus on one thing at a time and manage his day more efficiently, rather than having constant reminders and worries: “My mind is free to think about and respond to things that are going on in the school […] [and] not think about how many appointments I have today [or] where [I’m] supposed to be right now.”

Mr. Condon explained that every morning before school begins, for around 10 to 30 minutes, Ms. Rodriguez informs him of his agenda for the day, allowing him to prepare for specific circumstances. From discussing the number of meetings in the day, the length of the meeting, the topics that will be discussed, to even the documents Mr. Condon may need, Ms. Rodriguez lays out the foundation for the next seven hours. “[With her help] I know I have everything I need, so [then,] I’m just thinking about how I’m going to interact, what my goal is, and how I’m going to get there. [All of what she does is] tactical, operational, and strategic thinking,” he said.

Parent Coordinator Jodie Lasoff, who occasionally sits at Ms. Rodriguez’s desk when she’s out of the building, taking in messages from people who called, described Ms. Rodriguez as “always collaborative, always helpful, [and] always friendly. […] I don’t see all [the] behind the scenes work she does, which means she’s very good at it,” she said.

Assistant Principal of Organization Ellen Fee described Ms. Rodriguez as “the glue that keeps [everyone] all together.” She said that Ms. Rodriguez reminds THHS staff members to meet DOE deadlines and requirements before the school year ends.

For example, Ms. Fee said that Ms. Rodriguez usually reminds her to meet a certain number of fire drills before the end of the school year. Additionally, while Ms. Fee is busy organizing school events, like FON, Ms. Rodriguez makes sure all the other teachers and staff members have met their professional requirements. “Her assistance in all these small details of my job allows me to work on more big things myself,” said Ms. Fee.

Sophomore Aki Benjamin said that whenever he speaks with Ms. Rodriguez, “she is always willing to help. […] She goes above and beyond, asking me about my day, trying to help me with whatever she can do, and, if she can’t, she always helps direct me to the next person [who can].”

English teacher and Classic advisor Brian Sweeney described Ms. Rodriguez as “somebody who you would see in a movie or a TV show…because she’s so personable, on top of things, and professional”

Sophomore Nana-Ama Kwarteng spoke similarly about Ms. Rodriguez, describing a time she needed to quickly schedule a meeting with Mr. Condon. She said, “[Ms. Rodriguez] made it so much easier to reach the principal, even when it was urgent.”

“She’s really a hidden gem in this building that not everyone might be aware of,” said Ms. Lasoff when asked about Ms. Rodriguez’s impact at THHS.

Nevertheless, while Ms. Rodriguez’s appreciation and relentless hard work are evident to countless students and teachers, she noted that a frequent challenge is fitting in the large number of emails and tasks she has to schedule within a few hours, in one day. “Sometimes I think there’s just not enough time in the day. Not that I would want to add more to it, but, you know, it might help,” she said.

“[But] I’m really happy to be here and just to be able to help in any way I can […] I find that part very rewarding,” she said.

“In a world where countless demands compete for attention, Ms. Rodriguez stands out for her remarkable ability to help the administration navigate each task with precision, excellence, and genuine care,” Ms. Fee said.