“Is Mikal Ali in class?” a cheerful voice from the sky asks. Calling students to the main office for an early dismissal is just part of attendance officer Kyra Jackson’s job. On an average day, Ms. Jackson checks attendance for every student, issues late passes, locates administrators, and makes sure students are in the right classes.

Who is responsible for making sure that students get credit for being at school? It’s a pretty big task, and one ably taken on by Ms. Jackson. The task of keeping up with 1,600 people in an 11-story office building is daunting, but Jackson maintains order in the attendance office. But attendance is not the only thing that keeps Jackson busy, she says, “I view my role also as being a one-woman welcoming committee for all who enter this building.”

Junior Joe Morone comments on Jackson’s role at the school, “She is a really helpful woman who seems to really care for the students.”

Sophomore Emily Huff adds, “She just brightens my day!”

Each day she greets students with smiles and exudes a warmness that can even brighten up Monday mornings. Jackson has 16 years of experience. She started working at North Atlanta in 1997, a few years after the merger between Northside High School and North Fulton High School.

Before coming to North Atlanta she spent five years at Thurgood Marshall Middle School as a do-it-all staff member who worked in the media center, registrar’s office, and the assistant principal’s office.

Years of work as an attendance officer have given her a well-developed sense of punctuality. “The key to being on time is to start early and be prepared,” she said. “Students have to train themselves to be on time.”

Anna Gustafson, Executive Producer for 11 Stories, North Atlanta’s student-run news show, frequently relies on Ms. Jackson to help her set up interviews. “I’m always asking her where an administrator is or what room a teacher is in…I don’t know what I would do without her!” Gustafson, a junior, comments.

Jackson is mindful of the uncontrollable factors that can delay punctuality and attendance issues for some North Atlanta students. “Many students come from long distances just to get here. This can mean they get up early and they can arrive here tired,” she said.

Though sympathetic to the early morning plights of students, Jackson has heard her share of dubious stories, saying, “I’ve heard every excuse in the book.”

A particularly creative excuse though, she said, was when one student said his clothes got “ dirty” en route to school and believed that this accident warranted a trip home for a change of clothes.

Jackson also recalls the “absence trends” of the school. She said that Wednesdays tend to be a favorite day to miss for some less-motivated students, essentially giving themselves a “midweek vacation”.

Though she plays an extremely large role for North Atlanta students and faculty, Jackson has a very small office. When asked if she ever feels claustrophobic in an office with phone-booth proportions, she only emphasized the positive, “I like being closer to the students because that’s where the action is, and that’s where I can direct my love,” she said.

Simply put, Jackson has a big personality in a little office. Whether an “A Day” or a “B Day,” every day is “be at school day” for North Atlanta’s attendance officer.