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Rodarte a parent and parent liaison
Doug Flanagan/Post-Register
Veronica Rodarte has worked for the Quincy School District for the past 11 years.
Veronica Rodarte grew up as a bit of a tomboy. She has the figurative scars to prove it.
“When I was growing up, I liked to play football with the boys,” said Rodarte, who was born and raised in the Los Angeles area and moved to Quincy when she was 14. “When I was in fifth or sixth grade, I was playing football at recess and one of the boys broke my nose. He got me pretty good. I was bleeding all over the place.”
So in a way, perhaps it was meant to be that Rodarte is now the mother of three young boys — ages 11, 9 and 2.
“In the summer, we’ll go fishing,” she said. “We do ‘boy’ things. They’re into football. The middle one is starting soccer. We’ll go to the movies. But when we’re fishing, nobody sees me as that kind of person; they think I’m a girly-girl. But I like monster trucks. I like guy things. I am also kind of a girly-girl now, too, so I guess I could relate to either (boys or girls).”
When Rodarte is not spending time with her children, she’ll most likely be found at Quincy Junior High, where she works as a parent liaison.
After graduating from Quincy High School in 1996, Rodarte attended Big Bend Community College and went to work as a certified nursing assistant in Moses Lake. She then took jobs at Walsh and Associates, a Spokane-based program that assists people with developmental disabilities, and Simplot before applying for a para-pro position at Monument Elementary School in 1999.
She worked there for about five years before taking her current position at the junior high. In her role, her main responsibility is to communicate with parents who are eager to find out about their child’s academic progress.
“I help to guide parents through the education process,” Rodarte said. “I address any of their basic concerns. Discipline is a big topic. Parents want to know about homework — what homework their kid missed, that type of thing. Every time I meet with a parent, they say their child told them he or she didn’t have any homework, which isn’t true. They are concerned about their child’s progress in school.”
Since Rodarte is bilingual, she also serves as a translator.
“I’m also able to help parents not only with their kids’ education, but with any needs they might have,” she said. “I like the job because I like helping parents and children. I don’t know what a dull day is; it keeps me busy all day. I think it was a needed spot (for the district), and being able to overcome the language barrier helps a lot. There’s nobody else here that can spend the needed time to communicate with parents.
“I’ve had other jobs, but I really like what I do here. It’s like a little family.”
Junior High principal Scott Ramsey worked to recruit Rodarte to the school and is pleased to have her on board.
“Veronica does a great job,” he said. “She goes out of her way to be helpful to students, parents and teachers who come into the office. She always has a positive attitude and is friendly to people. This attribute is critical for a person in this position. Students also like Veronica and often come by the office just to say ‘hi.’ She is always smiling and happy.”
Rodarte said it was a big adjustment for her to come to Quincy as a teenager after being raised in Southern California, but over time she eventually grew to embrace the area.
“When I first got here, I thought it was a rest area,” she said. “There were maybe two houses here. It’s grown since then. It was a huge change for me because everybody else (at school) had their own little cliques, and it was hard for me to fit in. That’s why I can relate to a lot of kids (at my job). If they’re coming here from different places, I know what it’s like.
“My home is here now. When I first got here, I thought that there was nothing to do, but now, I couldn’t think of any other place I’d rather raise my children, which is a job in and of itself. It definitely keeps me on my toes, keeps me young.”
