“The days are long, but the years are short,” is a quote from author Gretchen Rubin that seems to sum of the career of Cambridge High School secretary Linda Bontrager.

Linda Bontrager at work in the old Cambridge High School office. 

 

Bontrager started at Cambridge High School in October of 1988 as an aide in the high school library and when that position was eliminated a year later, she started in the office as the attendance secretary.

“I never thought I would still be here,” Bontrager said recently. “When I started in the library, it was just to have some extra spending money. Then when this job came open, I said, I think I might like that and…. It doesn’t seem like it’s been that long.”

Bontrager is retiring at the end of the school year after 36 years of dedicated service to the district.

She served as secretary through nine principals, 11 assistant principals, seven superintendents, two buildings (15 years in the old building and 21 in the current building) and too many students to accurately count.

“I wish there was some way I could figure out how many kids came through the school while I’ve been here,” Bontrager lamented.
If anyone could calculate the number of students Bontrager has seen go through the CHS, it would be her. For 35 of her 36 years at Cambridge High School, Bontrager was in charge of attendance.

She tracked every student in every class period, every day.

“When I started out, I did everything on paper,” Bontrager shared. “I had six-by-eight cards for each student. Each card had a square for each day with nine little squares inside for each period, and the whole year was on one card. On the back is where I wrote what the parents said when I called them.”

Office aides helped bring absentee slips to the office from each classroom and Bontrager would record which students were not in class.
Eventually, technology provided an alternative way to keep attendance, although technology was not always more efficient.

“When the computer came, I was a little leery of them, so I did both,” Bontrager confessed. “I still marked it by hand and then on the computer. Eventually, I got too busy, and I had to say, ‘it’s okay, the cards can go away.’”

She remembered for several years having to record attendance into two different systems on two different computers. Eventually, the district joined the Ohio Mid-Eastern Regional Education Service Agency and she only had to enter attendance records into one system.
“The technology was a big change,” Bontrager noted. “I went from doing it from hand to online.”

Technology upgrades led to another change, the elimination, for the most part, of office aides.

“We had them when I started, but don’t have them now, so much,” Bontrager said. “Now, attendance is all done on computers and there are phones in the classrooms. In the old building, if you needed someone, you had to send an aide to get them. Now we just call the room and do attendance online.”

Bontrager also worked with several other secretaries over the years. At times, the high school office had five to six secretaries working at a time. That number has dwindled down to three currently at the high school, which means, despite the efficiencies of using technology, Bontrager and her colleagues keep pretty busy.

One long-time colleague, Nancy Embree, said, “Linda is very conscientious and has a wonderful work ethic. She always had a good rapport with the students, parents and CHS staff.

“It was a joy to work with her for 15 years,” Embree continued. “I don’t think I would want to be the person who tries to fill her shoes.”
Assistant principal Bob Mascolino, who has worked with Linda as a principal, assistant principal, and teacher, has nothing but praise for Bontrager.

“Linda has been a consistent presence at this school for years,” Masco said. “She has encouraged and cheered for several generations of students that have come through this building in addition to supporting all the administrators, teachers, and staff members.
“She will be greatly missed next year and for many years into the future,” Masco continued. “I know I will sincerely miss her steady and calming influence in our office.”

At the age of 75 with 36 years’ experience, Bontrager could have retired several years ago.

“People always said, ‘you’ll know when it’s time,’ and I thought, ‘I don’t know yet. I don’t want to quit.

“When we came back from COVID, I told Mr. Hannon, ‘I know, I know, I know, I’m not going to retire because I couldn’t handle being at home all the time,” Bontrager shared. “Well, this year, I knew pretty much at the beginning of the year. I can’t keep up. I can’t do it. I don’t want to quit because I want to keep my brain going. But, when you can’t keep up and you’re just weary all the time, someone younger needs to do it.

“I like what I do,” Bontrager continued. “I love it, I really do. Number one, I like computer work; but number 2, I like the students and the people I work with. That’s why I am here, it’s for the students, it’s all about the students.”

While Bontrager is extremely careful not to name favorite principals, teachers, or colleagues, she is not afraid to mention her two favorite students.

“Between 1988 and 1993, there were two Bontrager boys that were my favorites,” Linda said.

Brian was a member of the class of 1990 and Karl was in the class of 1993.

In her retirement, she hopes to spend more time with her sons and her grandchildren as well as her husband, Lynn.

“The first thing I’m going to do is get rid of my alarm,” Bontrager joked. “I’m going to clean my house, go for a walk, and then I’m going to sit on my porch and not feel guilty.”

She will also continue to attend band and choir concerts and sporting events.

“I’m not going to forget about this place,” Bontrager said. “I always like to follow the band, choir, and teams, so I plan to keep coming to the events.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do in August when school starts again,” Bontrager added. “I still don’t feel like it’s going to happen. I may have to have Lynn take me away from here at the start of the school year. This High School it’s just a part of me. I liked working here. I don’t know when I ever thought I would retire.”

And Mrs. Bontrager is part of the High School, a community that hoped she would never retire.