Answering the phone and making popcorn on Fridays, to working with administration and teachers. Working all across campus to being centralized in the front office. These are some of the changes Mrs. Carmen Colhour has seen since being promoted to the principal’s secretary, and Mrs. Jessica Alcala after becoming the new clerk. 

In addition to those changes, Mrs. Jennifer Baker resigned as registrar and Mrs. Dania Henkelmann in attendance announced her retirement.

“This happens every few years — people retire, or find new positions all at the same time — because they all kind of came at the same time,” Colhour said. 

Baker became a member of the staff Oct. 28, 2019. As registrar, she registers all transfer students, rolls grades to report cards and transcripts, makes grades changes, uploads SATs to Aeries, enters demographic information and GPAs into FAFSA and much more. Due to another opportunity as a Special Education Program Analyst at the district level, she will be leaving her position.

“I probably would have ended up retiring here because I love this job but an opportunity came about at the district office where I could use my degree and move up, make more money and build my retirement, so it was an opportunity that I couldn’t pass up,” Baker said.

When she was in college, Baker said she always thought of becoming a teacher, so she earned a degree in liberal studies with a minor in health science. Now, her new role will allow her to work more in education after six years as an office professional. As a Special Education Program Analyst, she will run staffing projections and track more data to report to the California Department of Education, specifically for disability support.

“It’s a piece that I don’t know a lot about. I went [with the job] because I want to learn and grow again. I’m excited to learn more about that department and what they do,” Baker said.

While leaving mid-year poses challenges, Baker said it is standard for Rocklin Unified School District office professionals.

“It is challenging, but it would be challenging at the end of the year too for someone to come in with all the online registrations. I think this is a good time because I just rolled grades to transcripts for fall and it’s kind of a down time where it’s going to get crazy busy again [in] May [and] June,” Baker said.

Diplomas have already been ordered, so the next registrar will be able to see Baker’s past work to learn from while in this period of down time. However, Baker emphasized how difficult the decision was to take a new job.

“I’m going to miss everybody and I hope to come back and visit when I do trainings,” Baker said. “It’s been a great six years.”

Colhour started as the new principal secretary Jan. 10. She started as a clerk in 2022, but nine years ago she worked in the cafeteria for two years before taking a break. 

“I love it here; I had two kiddos here at the time and it was close to home so I wanted to come back,” Colhour said. “Whitney is awesome. My kids really made me look here, we’ve played Whitney WJW for years, my kids played at Rocklin Pony and we love it here.”

As a clerk, Colhour was the go-to for parents, answering the phone and providing answers to any and all questions. She also handled graduation announcements and worked with social media. Being on campus for a long period of time, staff members and teachers relied on Colhour to answer questions. 

“I kind of took it upon myself to help out where I could,” Colhour said. 

Colhour said the principal’s secretary role naturally fell to her. When Mrs. Kim Rouse resigned over winter break, Colhour decided to apply since she had been at the school for a long time and had subbed for Rouse in the position.

“Mr. [Scott] Collins and I get along really well. We realized, he could lean on me for things,” Colhour said. “I kind of knew part of the job already, so it was kind of just a natural progression.”

One of the biggest changes from clerk to principal secretary is making the switch from handling parents in the front office to working closer with administration and teachers.

“When you’re in the front, it’s all about parents and students and you do support counseling a lot,” Colhour said. “When you’re back here, you support admin and teachers a lot more, so that is totally different. I don’t really have the parent or student interaction anymore which I’m definitely going to miss.”

The clerk position was filled by Alcala, who previously worked as a discipline technician. However administration needs to find a new attendance clerk, as Henkelmann is retiring. 

“I’m actually not too young to retire, I still feel like I have a lot of energy left to do this job,” Henkelmann said. “However, my husband is not well, and so I need to be home to help him more and more. So it just seemed like a good time to do this.”

She began her career in education working as the Dean of Students Secretary in 1982 at Anderson University and started as an attendance clerk in 2017. She starts her day by checking in the students that come to school late, and throughout the day checks in any students that leave early or come late throughout the day. She also handles independent studies and the contracts associated with such. 

“I was thinking about training the next person and thought ‘Oh gosh, I just hope they don’t go running screaming’ because attendance is a very busy job. But, then again, all of the jobs are pretty busy, [because] everyone has a lot to do,” Henkelmann said.

The district office advertises all open positions on EDJOIN, a website where all education jobs in California are listed. Then, the principal and assistant principals organize the applications and start the interview process. 

“I’m hoping that when we interview for my job, there will be somebody that’s had some experience with it too,” Henkelmann said. “I would love them to know that there is just a wonderful group of students and teachers here and that this is a wonderful school to work at.”

The job listing for the attendance clerk position was filled by Mrs. Jennifer Alcala, who was previously a campus discipline technician. The registrar listing closed Feb. 4 at 3 p.m. 

Colhour said, “It’s going to make the people who are here have crazy workloads and we are going to have to train new people. But, I’m confident we’re going to find good candidates and once they’re all trained up, I think it’ll be good. I think we’re ready for it.”

by EMERSON KIBBY, DESIREE MONTEJANO & ISABELLA TOMASINI