Despite Shutdown, Work Continues For Tulsa Principal

While schools are closed, some are not completely empty. 

Principals and support staff in Tulsa are finding projects to work on, like grading papers.

Complete Coverage: Schools Shutdown 

It's a silence that feels different than summer break.

"It's just dead silence. It's very loud, to be silent," said Andrew Carnegie Elementary Principal Robin Emerson. 

With no students in the halls of Andrew Carnegie Elementary, Emerson misses each one of them.

"It's awful," she said, "J.C. smiles from ear to ear every morning. I mean, contagious grin. He's not here. So, I miss that."

But if you listen closely, there is some noise in the building. 

Secretary Donna Moeller is going through old paperwork like health records, copies of birth certificates, enrollment information, things that have piled up over the years. 

"I found a few things from '95," she said. 

She rarely has time to go through this closet, until now. 

"I've done it for the past four days," she said. 

In one classroom, support staff workers are helping teachers catch up on things they didn't do while they were working to their contracts.

Teachers will also come home to new decorations. 

"We want it to look nice when they come back and go "Ok, all I have to do is just get in here and love these kids," said Emerson. 

Another project is going through the lost and found. 

Emerson wants to get coats back to kids before the weekend. 

She said she fully supports teachers at the capitol. 

"They're relentless. I am so proud of them," Emerson said. 

However, she is looking forward to the day her kids are back in school.

"I'll stand at the front door. We'll all hug, and they'll come in and they'll love on their teachers and we'll be back to business," she said. 

Right now, it's unclear if support staff will be paid beyond Friday if the walkout continues next week.