Assistant Principal Joe Celia is in many places during the day. His office usually isn’t one of them. Celia is tasked with the responsibility of “keeping our school in check”, making sure that students are attending classes, and that discipline is correctly handed out. 

         Most people know Mr.Celia, whether it be from seeing him at triton sporting events, storming the halls, or even from disciplinary action. But what is his day-to-day life like, what does a typical day for Celia actually look like?

        The day the Triton Voice followed Celia around  was just a half-day, but my god was he moving around. He started off his day at around 7:30 where he checked in with fellow assistant principal Mrs. Liz Pacheco to see what’s planned for the day and what teachers are out. Today it was three, so he took the liberty of heading over to the cafe to watch over all the teachers’ classes. He left the office and went to each of the classrooms where the teachers were absent and put up the notices on each door to “head to the cafe”. 

         Before he made his way to the cafe however he made the quick occasional stop (a stop he does at the end of every period), in the bathroom. It was here that he found a rather large party happening in the first floor bathroom.  He walked in, greeted the kids and told them to enjoy their half-day and to please go to their classes. He then headed down to the cafe to watch over the students and make sure that they were supervised. It was there that he took the liberty of explaining to the Voice  a few questions pertaining to the bathroom. 

         The Triton Voice asked him why he doesn’t just round up all the kids in the bathroom  and find the illegal products many know are hiding in a couple of those students’ pockets. The answer was surprising: in order for an administrator to search a student they need to have something called “reasonable suspicion” He also stated  that in order for him to perform disciplinary action on a student he would have to see smoke blowing out of the kids mouth, see an illegal substance out in the open, or smell marijuana in the bathroom. Without any of these things seen in the open Celia can only tell them to go on their way. 

         It is in his belief to use discretion at all times, so it’s very unlikely for him to pick out a kid and single him out. 

        What is the hardest problem in our schooling system that he was trying to solve? The answer was the vaping epidemic. 

         Triton’s policy, unlike many other schools, is not to suspend addiction. Instead they provide alternative actions to try and help the student instead of neglecting them. He does something they call “alternative interventions” which includes a four-hour anti-vaping class. 

         Celia talked about the craziest events he has seen on the job: In his 8 years as an administrator at Triton his answer was fight club, a recent event. It involved a group of young boys engaging in fist fights inside of Triton’s bathrooms. It went on for a couple weeks before this was discovered. Celia couldn’t believe students would do something so stupid. 

         Celia knows that the hardest part of his job is having to be in so many places at once. He said “I feel like there are more important things that don’t get the attention because there are so many moving parts” Celia’s job only deals with sophomores and seniors, the freshman and juniors are handed to Mrs.Pacheco 

        Celia concluded his day with confidential meetings with various students regarding disciplinary actions. In just one and half hours being followed around by a Triton Voice reporter, he  traveled half of Triton, went to 6 different places, had to make multiple bathroom stops, and still his day wasn’t even close to being over.