Beverly Wilson wasn’t always a school business manager.
“When you leave in the morning, it’s dark. When you come home at night, it’s dark. When are you going to have time for us?”
Skeptical at first, Wilson soon listened to her son as he explained that he rarely got a chance to see her due to her schedule as business manager. As Wilson considered this, she decided to honor her son’s wishes.
“That broke my heart. So I switched areas of occupations and I started working for the district. And the district had me come home at a decent hour, I was going to work at a decent hour, and I was there to be there for [my kids].”
Wilson cherishes her family and was tired of missing out on her children’s youth, so she applied to work at the South district office for HISD and began pursuing business/financing in an educational institution.
In 2009, Wilson was moved to CVHS when HISD decided to merge the South and North district offices into one. Prior to this change, Carnegie had been part of Jones High School, but the merge resulted in the separation of the two schools. CVHS was then assigned the status of a vanguard school. She embraced the school board separation because she could still watch her children grow up while her dedication and love towards students’ education at CVHS began.
The transition from an administrative office allowed Wilson’s dedication to her family to grow as well as her commitments to CVHS. Wilson actively tries to ask the students how they’re feeling, and states “But they appreciate the fact that you’re even acknowledging them, even though they don’t say it.” Despite the new job with a new set of deadlines and evaluations from the district, she deems it not stressful but gratifying.
When asked about the key differences in being a business manager at a school versus a corporation, Wilson said “In the corporate world, you’re actually just business manager for the company, and you’re doing things that [are] going to fall in line with that company.” She adds that here she is dedicated to the CVHS community and manages the finances in a way that helps to improve the environment while serving the students, parents, faculty and administrators.
Following rules and guidelines is a part of any job, but for Wilson, the job also includes learning about all upcoming changes within the HISD community. At a districtwide meeting of business managers on Oct. 17, she was trained on how to implement new changes in transportation. Wilson explains that as the business manager, in addition to overseeing campus transportation issues, she also handles all financial matters, including balancing the school budget and transferring funds to and from different accounts as needed.
Taking her job seriously means constantly ensuring that the school’s budget is distributed effectively by planning how much money to reserve for student projects and campus activity funds. Because Wilson’s foremost concern is serving the CVHS community, she states that “everything else just flows into place.”
Even as she manages all the finances and oversees the campus budget, Wilson has also been called upon to handle bus duty and lunch duty. She has been known to fill in for the nurse and clean the hallways around the school. She admits that although it can be quite exhausting, the enjoyment she sees on the students’ faces makes the duties worthwhile
Although the job has its demands, Wilson says “I like my job. I like coming to work every day. I like dealing with the students. I really get excited when when the students say, ‘Hey, Ms. Wilson, how you doing?’ I speak to them all…every morning. I speak to all the students.”
At the end of the day, she is overjoyed to engage with the students and know that she might have brightened their day. This is what makes her job magical.
“[The students] appreciate the fact that you’re even acknowledging them, even though they don’t say it. I’ve had little notes come by and say, ‘Hey, Miss Wilson, you lifted my day’. So [the job] has its rewards.”
