Margaret Dailey

Ms. Margaret Dailey is an essential part of the Parker family. She works hard everyday to help everyone in the Parker community, especially Ms. Ruth Jurgensen, who is the assistant principal. Ms. Dailey works behind the scenes, coordinating, writing emails, and doing many more things that we as students may take for granted. We were so lucky to be able to speak with Ms. Dailey for this project, and we thoroughly enjoyed learning about her job, personal life, and daily routine.

Ms. Dailey is from Grand Rapids, Michigan. As a child, she attended a Catholic school. The assistant principal of her school was her friend’s mom, so Ms. Dailey would often go during her lunch break to help the assistant principal with anything that needed to be done.

In 6th grade, Ms. Dailey never would have expected to end up where she is right now. She always thought she wanted to be a mom and she never expected that she would attend college, but now she has done both. She has a son named Mac, with whom she enjoys spending time. Ms. Dailey enjoys watching TV, reading books (such as science fiction and fantasy) and hiking. Some of her favorite shows are Stranger Things, The Magicians, and NCIS, as well as sporting events like the Olympics. Before Ms. Dailey worked at Francis Parker, she worked at a nonprofit organization called UIS Foundation, and afterwards as an administrative assistant at Adler University. She doesn't know what different experiences her future will hold, at Parker, or somewhere else.

Ms. Dailey has worked at Francis Parker for three and a half years. She does many important jobs here. For example, Ms. Dailey schedules and coordinates events, and manages a budget. Everyday she walks into school and checks her email so that if there's a big event she can plan for it. Ms. Dailey said that checking her emails is a big part of her day. She coordinated visits to the school by speakers such as Congressman John Lewis and author Eric Liu. She has various responsibilities that revolve mostly around students and their schedules, clubs, etc. She also manages “sweepers,” people who sweep the school during drills to make sure everyone is safe and doing what they’re supposed to do. Ms. Dailey told us that we are very lucky to have snacks at clubs, which is something she spends hours working on every day. She let us know that sometimes it is hard for her to deal with the different personalities and perspectives around her, but that Parker has helped her get better at that. Ms. Dailey has a great deal of work during the school year, but she truly works year round, managing aspects of Parker during every season.

Ms. Dailey communicates with the Parker neighbors throughout the year. In the summer, the neighbors often complain because the field is so noisy during Parker Summers. She also said that they complain about pickup on Webster, because it can disrupt traffic flow. During her free time at Parker, she enjoys going to the County Fair. Ms. Dailey also enjoys the MXs every week, and when students are friendly and say hi to her. She greatly enjoys working at Parker because all of the new things she experiences every day. Evidently, Ms. Dailey contributes a great deal to the ever-functioning school that is Parker, in ways both visible, and less so.

During the interview, Ms. Dailey gave us lots of advice and told us about advice she would’ve given her younger self. She told us that as students, we should go with the flow. She said to us, “Go with the flow, [just because] things don’t always go the way you want them to doesn’t mean you can’t roll with it and enjoy it anyway.” She said that she would’ve given the same advice to herself as a child. She talked about how when she was younger, she would get an idea in her head and if things didn’t go how she expected, she would have a hard time.

Talking to Ms. Dailey offered us insights into the life of someone who helps to make the Parker school run. Clearly, she helps to support some of the great features that make Parker unique, like MXs and other speaking events like TedX, as well as the summer program. Ms. Dailey does truly important work for the community. We very much enjoyed getting to know her and really appreciate all she does for the Parker community!