Campus watch Campus watch (November 19, 2004)

On yard duty for 20 years, she's seen plenty of changes
by Teresa C. Brown

For more than half of the years Harvest Park Middle School has been open, one woman has walked its halls and campus grounds. She has guided and watched over the youngsters who call the Valley Avenue school their own.

At 70 years young, Elaine Cox-Magorian has worked at the school for the last 20 years as a campus supervisor, better known at the school as the "yard duty."

"Harvest Park has been real lucky to have her," said Principal Jim Hansen. "She has a gift working with kids."

She enforces the limits set for the students, Hansen explained, but she has a way of doing it with "humor and grace."

"I love these years," Magorian said of her middle school-age charges. "They are changing so much," she said of the students' tender adolescence.

Occasionally, she'll meet a former student, now grown. Raising her hand high over her head to indicate the students' height, she said, "I see them out working now in Pleasanton."

Magorian has the longest employment record at Harvest Park, and she is quick to cite one of the most notable differences she has seen through the years: the students.

"The kids are real polite," she said, and she credits the difference to the Patriot Path. Hansen explained the Patriot Path is the school-expected behavior policy that incorporates character traits from the district's Community of Character plan.

Harvest Park did not have a character policy when she started working there, said Magorian. With this policy, she is armed with a practical tool. If she sees a child behaving inappropriately, she will remind him or her of the policy's expected behavior, asking the student if that is how to be compassionate or honest, she said.

On the technical side, there have been other changes for Magorian. Nowadays, she plus the five other permanent yard duty women and the two substitutes at Harvest Park are equipped with walkie-talkie radios.

With tighter campus security, the radios enable everyone to stay in touch with one another. In the old days, she said with a laugh, they had to use whistles - and yell.

It is one of her responsibilities to make sure the students are in a safe environment. She walks the campus grounds, including the halls and restrooms.

Cellular telephones and laptop computers are other signs of the times, Hansen said. Students can have cell phones but can use them only before and after school.

School rules prohibit laptops being used between classes as well as handheld electronic games. All these are rules that Magorian must enforce.

The dress code is another change, Hansen noted, adding that Magorian and the other campus supervisors take the lead on enforcing the code. It can be a "touchy subject," he said, because they are dealing with styles. For the most part, he added, students understand what is expected and abide by the rules.

During an average day, Magorian watches over 900-some students through two lunch periods. She monitors them as they file into the lines to buy their pizzas, burritos and chicken meals.

She watches for children touching food they are not buying, or running and climbing on benches and tables in the outdoor break area. If someone forgets and darts across the concrete pavilion, she is quick to remind him or her to slow down.

Sometimes she will relieve the librarian or provide staff coverage during the lunch hour.

Magorian, a mother of four, including two stepchildren, has always enjoyed working with people. Before joining the Harvest Park staff, she worked in an airline office at the Oakland airport. She has also been a product demonstrator. But being a yard supervisor has kept her interested. "It's very rewarding," she said.

The job has been a source of joy for Magorian as well as an outlet. Since moving to Pleasanton 37 years ago, she has become a caregiver to five people. In between lunch periods, she took a moment to recall that time in her life about 10 years ago. She was the caregiver, until their deaths, of her father-in-law, her mother-in-law, her mother, her brother and her late husband, losing the last three in less than two years.

While it was a difficult time, her responsibilities at the school gave her a reason to be out of the house for a couple hours a day.

She approaches life as an optimist. Last year she remarried, and she plans to keep working on yard duty for as long as the job is enjoyable.

Another bell rings, signaling to Magorian that a second round of students is hustling to eat their lunch. She waves a goodbye; it is time to go back to work, to the job she loves.

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