FARMINGTON – When Mt. Blue High School janitor Paul Sprout wrote to the Sun Journal to laud school secretaries Charlotte Sinclair, Sherry Tyler and Trixie Atwood, he sent along a thick packet of handwritten and typewritten notes from teachers, staff and students outlining the reasons for the school’s deep regard for the three women.
Over and over again, in the letters and in personal interviews, people who spend their days at Mt. Blue took time this week to explain why they love the people “who make the school run so well.”
“Without the MBHS League of Secretaries safeguarding the daily operations of these manic halls, it would not surprise me in the least to see the walls collapse. Seriously. Just last week I think I saw Sherry holding up the backside of the auditorium, while Charlotte and Trixie threw a couple of braces in there to keep the whole blessed thing from caving in on us. But it’s all in a day’s work for those folk,” stated Dan Ryder, MBHS English teacher.
The office where the three work sees a steady stream of students, teachers, staff and parents pop in throughout the day, giving and receiving messages, signing in and out of school, talking with the principal and getting help with classes. At any given time during the day, there are between two and seven students and others waiting for service at the long dusky-green file cabinets that make up the office’s service desk.
“Hi Sherry,” “Hi Charlotte,” “Hi Trixie,” students say as they sidle up to the desk. They all seem to know the secretaries’ names, and all seem to be known as well. Jokes, queries about the fate of a game or a test, the state of a student’s cold, child, family or significant other, fly across the room while school business is conducted.
Principal Joe Moore credits the secretaries not only with expeditiously running the school, but with creating the kind of environment he thinks his high school needs. “The kids feel so comfortable (in the office),” he said Wednesday. “That’s exactly how I want it to feel. They just come in to say, Hey, I passed that test,’ or, I got that goal.’ Those are the types of conversations you hear all the time.”
“I have never worked in a school office that’s so student-friendly, and it fits in well with my personal type of thinking about students coming first,” he added.
None of the three secretaries knew the true purpose of their interviews, but when asked what they liked most about their positions, each said she liked working around students most. “The kids are great,” Sinclair said, while Tyler explained that, “the kids are just the best,” and Atwood said, “its great to interact with the kids.”
It’s not only their commitment to students that endear the three to Mt. Blue High School so much. New Assistant Principal Monique Poulin explained that the three women have gone above and beyond their job descriptions to help her get comfortable in her new job environment. “They have been instrumental to my transition,” she said. “Any questions I have, if they don’t have the answer, they find it. Their assistance has been vital to my positive transition here.”
Assistant Principal Randy Cook expressed his admiration for the women’s high level of job performance, saying “You have to have the perfect personality to function in this environment.”
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