Meet Leilani Shaw
Welcome Leilani Shaw to the ADM community as the new administrative assistant in the high school office.
January 12, 2020
With Grace Petitt departing from the high school at the end of 2019, Leilani Shaw accepted the administrative assistant position, Shaw had big shoes to fill as she entered ADM high school on December 16th of 2019 to start her first day.
Shaw decided on working in high school because she lives in the community and has a granddaughter that goes to Desoto Intermediate. Shaw used to work for Polk County Detention Center Shaw said: “That should put a big scare in everyone.” When asked about how the job is going her one response was “loving it!”
When asked about her first week without Mrs. Pettit, Shaw said: “It’s a little crazy, it feels like a Monday, but she left a step-by-step book and I think I am getting the hang of it.”
When asked about what she fears most about messing up is “doing something to aggravate Griebel or making mistakes messing up the kid’s names.” The hardest part of the job is juggling things all the time. Shaw’s first day was December 16th of 2019.
When she walks down the hall and says “Good Morning” she wants students to look up and say good morning back because she’s a very positive person.
Shaw is very excited to have the opportunity to work within the ADM district and community and hopes to remain here for years to come.
For those of you that missed my story about Grace Pettit Leaving it is attached along with this story.
Pettit Not Returning In 2020
Grace Pettit is one of two administrative assistants to Principal Lee Griebel and Assistant Principal Matt Lohmann. She has resigned her position effective December 31, 2019.
Pettit came to ADM in 2010 and this is her 9th year working in an administrative assistant position. Originally, she started in the elementary school and said that the freshman this year were the kindergarteners who she worked with her very first year. She chose ADM because “I live in the district and I’ve always thought ADM was a great school district and I enjoy working with the kids.”
Pettit and her husband own their own limo business, which adds an additional workload to Pettit’s plate and she was tired of staying up late at night to get work on their limo business done. As she’s grown older she’s been spread thin between her parents and her own children so another reason she is leaving is to help and to spend more time with her parents.
When asked what she’s going to miss most about her job here, she said, “I’m gonna miss the ability to interact with staff and students, and once I leave it just changes things like the connection I have with them and I’m gonna miss that the most.”
She said, “Absolutely, she [Mary Lynn Gray] will have a fabulous replacement for me.” Gray interjected, “No, I will not!”
Pettit can be seen working alongside Mary Lynn Gray, doing various tasks to assist the principals and resides in the office for the majority of her day. Many of these tasks include: whatever Gray says to do, handing out detentions, updating the school website with high school news, keeping vehicle registration logs, maintaining the high school budget, and during graduation time, ordering medals for the graduates, and other tasks to prepare for the ceremony. Gray and Principal Griebel are conducting interviews for potential candidates and once they pick one they’re going to have Pettit train that person before she leaves.
Pettit’s last day will be December 31, 2019, but her last day with students and staff will be December 20. She’ll be going into 2020 with a fresh slate and saying goodbye to all the students and staff here at ADM. She said, ” I wish all of you much success in the future, and we have so many great students here.”