Behind the Scenes

Celebrating the work, dedication and roles of Tina Braniff, assistant to the Head of Middle and Upper School, and Jessica Tyler, assistant to the Head of School, and all that they do for our community.

Madeleine Nicks

What first drew you to this job in the beginning?

T: Working at a school, for me. Because I think it’s a happy place full of life and people and growth. And being a mom, I love the whole atmosphere of being at a school.

J: I was looking for a career change, background being law, and this opportunity presented itself to me and I thought it would be the perfect career change. I truly enjoy working for a school, I teach mock trial, so it all comes full circle.

The community, the faculty, the staff, everyone was really supportive and really kind when I met them.

What is the first thing you do when you come in to work in the morning?

T: Email. Got to check email because that’s how everything starts each day is what messages there are in the inbox.

J: I would say the same. Emails, voice-mails, I check in with Mr. Hereford. Look at the calendar to see what’s on the agenda for today. Look at the whole week, actually.

What are your main tasks?

T: Anything that has to do with the Middle School or the Upper School, I’m in the know. I know what’s going on each day and what’s on the agenda for that day. I know what meetings there are.

Faculty meetings, meetings that I have to arrange for Mr. Lopes and Mr. Wooden.

J: It’s hard to put it into words because there are so many little things that we do to make up for the whole entire school.

We have our hands in a little bit of everything.

T: If there are events happening, we have a lot of planning and preparation to do for events. I do a lot of the behind-the-scenes work with report cards. Grading, and all of that, publishing to parents, communication to parents [and] faculty.

Is there one part of the year that is a particularly busy time for you? Why?

T: End of the year for sure.

J: I do the back end of the calendar, that’s a huge task. I build the calender and it gets pushed forward to the administration, and things get changed. But that’s a huge project that happens about [October] through February or March.

I work alongside with the Board. So I go to the Board meetings. I organize those. Back-to-school events and functions. It’s busy through the entire year.

What is your favorite part of working at Laguna?

T: The community for me, the students, the faculty and parents. It’s just fun to have that many people to say hi to everyday!

J: It’s the most friendly environment. I love coming to work, I love coming to my job, I love doing my job. There’s not a day where I don’t want to come in because it’s just such a positive place to be. You just want to be here.

Go visit Tina and Jessica in the Administration Office!