Behind the scenes of Woodside’s daily operations is an important group of people who have a very big impact on the success of the school. Teachers take care of teaching in the classroom, while janitorial staff, food service workers, technology specialists and therapists make sure everything works as it should by creating a safe working environment for students to learn. All of these employees contribute to how each and every one of the students experience life at the school; they also help ensure the smoothness of all aspects of the school from the time the students enter until the time they leave.
Teachers and support staff shape daily life at Woodside, but many students may not be familiar with the staff members who work to keep Woodside safe and welcoming for students. To keep the campus safe, Woodside employs multiple security aides to help keep the campus safe for everyone. Rosie Zepeda has worked at Woodside for 34 years and worked as a Community Service Officer for Atherton PD before that.
“I worked for the Atherton police for about six years. I used to take care of home visits. Like if someone went on vacation and their alarm went off, I had to go,” Rosie said.
Outside of her job as a security aide, Rosie enjoys traveling, going to the beach and reading books. Another long-serving security aide is Kenny Bryant, who has worked at Woodside for 30 years.
“I just enjoy working here, just socializing with students, encouraging them to do better or just do great things and have a positive attitude,” Bryant said.
Before becoming a security aide at Woodside, Bryant worked in retail security.
“Prior to working here. I was working at Sears retail store in San Bruno, doing loss prevention,” Bryant said.
Woodside has many long-tenured employees who have been with the school for a long time. Administrative Vice Principal Chuck Velschow worked at Woodside for the last 25 years as an athletic director and Vice Principal.
“I’ve been an administrative vice principal for seven years and at Woodside since 2001,” Velschow said.
Before becoming one of Woodside’s two vice principals, Velschow worked as Woodside’s athletic director, overseeing the many different sports offered at Woodside. He was also the JV football coach during NFL wide receiver Julian Edelman’s freshman year at Woodside. Before getting his teaching credentials, Velschow worked various other jobs.
“Before this, I worked at South San Francisco High School from 1995 to 2001,” Velschow said. “My dad was a painting contractor, so I worked selling paint and painting as well. That was kind of my first job out of college for a couple years as a sales rep selling paint, and then I went back and got my teaching credential after about two and a half years.”
Non-teaching staff work to keep Woodside students safe, productive and happy. It is important that students recognize how much these people do for the student body at Woodside, working behind the scenes, assisting both students and teachers alike.
