Home Office Attendance Secretary, Mrs. Theresa Arduino has spent the last 28 years keeping tabs on roughly 1000 students. From call outs to no shows, Arduino has logged it all. After spending 27 of those years in the same desk, with the same routine, she has finally decided to take a step back from her duties in K025.<\/p>\n
While many students may only see her every once in a while, Arduino is at her desk by the time the sun comes up most days, and doesn\u2019t leave until well after the final bell rings.<\/p>\n
\u201c[As attendance secretary] I’m in charge of keeping the records for all 1,000 students for either 10th, 11th or 12th grade. So I have to know where everyone is, call parents, it’s a lot.\u201d Thersa Arduino explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cI start at 6:30 in the morning which means I\u2019m usually [at North Penn] by 6:15, that\u2019s when people start calling to check their kids out of school. Then I am on Infinite Campus all day, parents calling kids out, last minute leaving early or coming in late. I then have to reconcile the attendance and make sure that everything that the teachers put in is correct and make sure there are no mistakes,\u201d Arduino explained. \u201cI also have to send absent letters out to parents if kids are out for too long. I work with guidance a lot as well. If I see students are out, I bring it to their attention and together we call the parents or if we see the student is back in school, we talk to them about it as well,\u201d she continued. \u201cI am very strict in everything I do. I come in in the morning and I do the same things at the same times every single day and I like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although she finds peace in normalcy and routine, Arduino had a very nontraditional way of getting to this point.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have always worked in offices as a secretary. I went to MONTCO for two years, but because I had to pay for it myself, it was on and off,\u201d Arduino said. \u201cI would go to school for about a year and then get a secretarial position to earn money, and then go back to school for a year until I got married and then I just did secretarial work.\u201d<\/p>\n
After spending some time being a secretary, she took some time off to be a stay-at-home mom with her kids.<\/p>\n
\u201c[Before being at North Penn] I was a stay at home mom. When my youngest was going into first grade, I came here. I met someone at my gym that was working in HR at the district office and she was talking about how bad they needed people,\u201d Arduino explained. \u201cSo I went over and got hired as a substitute so I could pick the days I wanted to work and gradually get into it. Once he was in first grade, it was like I was finally ready to find something new to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
The something new turned out to be so much more than part time as Arudino has dedicated nearly three decades of her life to it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been here since 1997. I started out subbing in the district and I found that I really liked being in the high school. I had young kids and I found I didn\u2019t want to work with young kids because I would go home to young kids so I like the older kids,\u201d Arduino explained. \u201cI started out just subbing in high school, and then I got a job as a PPD, which is no longer around for secretaries. But basically I would just come in every day and they just put you where they needed you, which was really great because I got to learn everybody\u2019s job. But a 10 month position came up in 1999, so I went to work here full time.\u201d<\/p>\n
It is evident that over the years Arduino had an impact on every student she came in contact with, but little did they know, they also had one on her.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I first started in the job, it was like I tried to be their mother and their friend, but you can\u2019t always do that. So now, I just take what they do and it is what it is,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Although she is ready, leaving a place and people she has known for so long is no easy feat.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am going to miss my friends that I met here. The other girl in the office, Robyn [Williams], is also retiring. We both started back in 1997 and we\u2019ve both been together for 28 years and she\u2019s moving to Florida,\u201d Arduino stated. \u201cIt’s going to be hard not seeing these people everyday.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWith that said, this isn\u2019t fully a goodbye. I did sign up to become a substitute, so I am hoping to come back and do some secretarial subbing and stay in the sports activities like I am now. I\u2019m looking to keep my hand still on a few things, but be able to just pick and choose,\u201d she continued.<\/p>\n
Although June 17th won\u2019t mark the last time Arduino walks the halls of North Penn, she is looking forward to the flexibility and having more time to herself.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have a beach house in Rehoboth so I\u2019m looking to spend some more time there. Not having to come back and go to work on a Monday morning and just stay at the beach is going to be really nice. I have grandchildren in the area so I\u2019ll be with them too. I\u2019m not planning for anything major, just staying here and doing fun things.\u201d<\/p>\n
After seeing many graduating classes pass through, and living an abundant life herself, Arduino feels keeping all options open is the key to true success.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy advice to students would be to keep your options open, and don’t turn down an opportunity. After leaving high school I never would have thought I would end up working in a school, but now I do a job that I love. You never know where you’ll find happiness.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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