He sits. He stares, but with no eyes.
Secretaries Renee O’Brien and Melinda Hoover, who started their careers in education in the early 2000s, brought Bones the Skeleton to their office at PHS in the fall of 2023. Since then, he has been a mascot and conversation starter for teachers who walk by their door.
“He was just going to be stored in a closet,” Hoover said. “It was after Halloween, and we had a few teachers that would walk by the door and they’d go, ‘Oh, good, he’s still here.’”
They brought him in their office in a rock ‘n’ roll t-shirt, and he has stayed throughout the years. He has a collection of clothes for each season, including spirit wear, button-ups and sports attire.
“People joke about, ‘Oh, if you stay here that long, well, this is what you’re going to look like,’” O’Brien said. “This is my 14th year in Prosper. I was at Rogers (Middle School) for 10, and this is my fourth year here at PHS.”
O’Brien and Hoover have planned each and every 504 and ARD meeting so that teachers and students get the help and information they need in order to be successful. ARD, which stands for Admission, Review and Dismal, provides a legal process and series of meetings to help students get the assistance they need. According to Hoover, several types of ARDs exist.
“There’s some ARDs in between called revision ARDs, review ARDs, and the ARD which is a manifestation ARD for when children get in trouble,” Hoover said. “I’ve had to have up to 15 people in my meetings, and so I have to look at each individual calendar of theirs to see where they’re available so that we’re able to schedule.”
On the other hand, O’Brien works toward helping students accomplish their educational goals through 504 plans and meetings.
“I’m the 504 data clerk, so I schedule meetings for Ms. (Roxanna) Trent, who is the 504 facilitator, to have meetings with students who need 504 accommodations,” O’Brien said. “I only have to have three people in my meetings.”
A 504 plan is an accommodation plan in education that ensures that students get the support that they need in a general classroom within public schools. O’Brien refers to this process as a ‘puzzle’ due to the busy scheduling and planning in order to provide for the students at Prosper High School. She’s been working at PHS for four years, but this isn’t the beginning of her career.
“I started working in the school system when my youngest started kindergarten,” O’Brien said. “It was a job that I could do and be off when my girls were off and be around for school activities with them.”
In contrast, Melinda Hoover is the special education data clerk. She makes certain that teachers receive students’ accommodation plan information to ensure that students get the help they need. She also schedules meetings with the SPED department to plan and act on these plans.
“I am the SPED data clerk, and I schedule meetings that are a little bit more in depth than what the 504s are,” Hoover said. “I have two diagnosticians that I do meetings with where we have just a little bit over 200 special education students that have to have an annual ARD every year.”
Hoover has been working in education for over 20 years and she is determined to help each and every single student that needs the help they can get. She has faced many challenges along the way, but has learned and grown from them.
“I started in 1999, not this job, but in education,” Hoover said. “I had two young boys, and during the summertime, I was missing their sports, or whatever it is that they were doing, and I decided to take a 50% pay-cut, and go start working for the schools so that I was on the same schedule as the kids.”
The secretaries have handled difficult tasks and challenging moments throughout their careers. According to O’Brien, the beginning of their professions started off on a rocky path.
“I think both of us, when we started our positions, it was a rough start until you got to really know the position,” O’Brien said. “We’re still learning new stuff because yeah systems change every year.”
O’Brien and Hoover not only care for the students at PHS, they have gained a friendship with each other through their professions.
“She is just the best workmate,” Hoover said. “And office mate I have ever had.”
Likewise, O’Brien feels a similar way about Hoover.
“We really enjoy each other’s company,” O’Brien said. “My favorite part of the job is getting to know who the staff members are.”
Over the years of their educational journeys, O’Brien and Hoover have seen many students striving, and they are extremely proud of how hard the kids work to achieve their goals. According to Hoover, special education is a job that you have to want to pursue, not a job that you are required to do.
“I think my favorite (memory) is when they reach their milestones when they have a, you know, a hallelujah, a moment, an achievement,” Hoover said. “That’s because you can see it on their face and it’s just, it’s just goosebumps.”
This article has been edited by Trisha Panicker, Kate Duncan and Victoria Byers
