Richland building foreman reflects on work during Classified School Employee Week
Ken Miller
Teachers and students throughout Washington are honoring school employees who are not teachers this week for the hard work they do throughout the year.
For the past 39 years, classified employee Ken Miller has been keeping Marcus Whitman Elementary school clean and safe.
The building foreman who has come to mean so much to staff and students says he had no idea his job would be so important when he first started.
"I feel like a parent. These are my kids and my staff" said Miller.
Miller has been an employee of Marcus Whitman longer than anyone else.
Every day, he clocks in at 6 AM and goes to work taking out the garbage, helping teachers get supplies and cleaning up during the lunch rush.
Miller says the reason he keeps coming back to work year after year is for the relationships he builds with students.
One of whom is now a Richland School District administrator.
"He was always present and always joking with the kids and he'd kind of growl once in a while to play kind of the gruff giant person. And the kids always had a really good relationship. Everything time we'd walk down the hallway, everybody would say 'hi Mr. Ken' and "hello Mr. Ken.' And he'd say hi back as he was going about his daily work" said John Steach, Richland School District Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources.
As Miller approaches his 40th year with the school, retirement is on the top of his mind.
But he says even if he leaves, he'll never forget the many memories he's made.
"I feel I've made a difference in at least the kids lives and some of the teachers, and they've made a difference in my life" said Miller.
More than half of the employees in the Richland School District are classified employees.
There are nearly 50,000 of them throughout the state.