Sager ready to say goodbye

For the past 26 years, Audrey Sager has kept the wheels of the Sheboygan Falls School District rolling along at a remarkably steady pace.

As the administrative assistant to the district administrator and the school board secretary, Sager has never been in danger of having a dull moment on the job.

After having her finger on the daily pulse of the district since 1984, she has announced plans to retire July 6.

The Sheboygan native started her administrative assistant career as a comptroller-treasurer at the Sheboygan City Hall. She later moved to the city of Sheboygan Municipal Service Department.

“I stopped working at the municipal service office for seven years to raise my two kids,” Sager said. “When the kids got to be school aged, I went back to work there for 12 more years. The city had a residency clause, and we had plans to move into a new home in Elkhart Lake. That is when I started looking for a new job.”

Sager’s job search didn’t last long, as a short time later, a newspaper ad for a job opening in the Sheboygan Falls School District office caught her eye.

“I saw the ad in the newspaper, and it really drew my attention as something I could do and would want to do,” she said. “When I called, they said they were done with their interviews, but they said they would do one more for me. I went in for the interview and they hired me on the spot.”

After being hired Oct. 4, 1984, Sager settled into her job as the school year secretary in the district office, under the direction of former district administrator Norm Frakes.

“There were quite a few things that were similar to what I had done at the Sheboygan Municipal Service Department, but there were plenty of things that were brand new to me,” she said. “When I started, there was a huge pile of bills I had to go through. I remember wondering what I had gotten myself into.”

After enjoying a summer off, following the 1984-85 school year, in August 1985 Sager was promoted to a full-year secretary position, specializing in accounts payable.

“When the person who handled the accounts payable duties left, they asked me to do the job,” she said. “That is when I became a full-time, all-year employee of the district.”

Five years later, Sager’s duties shifted again, when Frakes selected her to serve as the administrative secretary to the district administrator.

“At the time, there was a full-time secretary to the district administrator, who also handled payroll,” she said. “Mr. Frakes decided to split the job into two, so I became the district administrator’s secretary.

“Since it was basically a new position, it definitely grew and changed over time. At first, I did a lot of work with free and reduced lunch, and now I work more with open enrollment.”

After Dr. Lee Riter moved into the district administrator position in 1994, Sager’s duties expanded once again.

“In about 1998 or 1999, Dr. Riter asked me to take on school board secretary duties, which Bob Englander, the district business manager at the time, had been doing,” she said. “That change increased my duties again to include compiling the school board minutes, postings and agendas.

“Being the school board secretary has been very interesting, because the members of the board change pretty often. It has given me the opportunity to get to know more people and learn the unique styles and philosophies of different people. My job could definitely be described as a work in progress through the years.”

Sager’s list of duties appears among endless at first glance. Among her main duties are: compiling school performance reports, staff seniority lists for unions, evaluation lists for supervisors, internal and external employment postings for all openings, bussing contracts for parents of public and parochial school children, open enrollment files, home-schooling files, staff personnel files, election postings and paperwork and the annual school calendar.

“I can’t really say that I enjoy one part of the job more than another,” she said. “I like being busy.

“I get to work with a lot of different people, which of course can be a challenge at times,” she said. “Overall, I have no complaints. It has been a great experience for me.”

During her lengthy tenure, Sager has worked with three district administrators (Norm Frakes, Dr. Lee Riter and Dave Wessel), as well as two interim district administrators, Born and Englander.

“I’ve actually worked with just a handful of superintendents over the years,” she said. “My job demands working closely with the district administrator on a day-to-day basis.

“Each of them were easy to work with, mainly because they were all pretty computer oriented, which took some of the burden off of me for several things, like writing letters.”

Although she has completed countless duties, tasks and projects during her career, but one in particular stands out in Sager’s mind.

“I remember one day when Norm Frakes wheeled in a PC on a cart and told us that everyone was going to learn how to use it,” she said. “We were using typewriters at the time, and we all just laughed at the idea at first.

“One of the first projects we had with the PC was to take a total inventory of everything in all of the district’s buildings. That was a huge undertaking and a lot of hard work. It was basically how I learned to use a PC.”

Sager will particularly miss her secretarial colleagues in the district office – Andrea Heling (benefit specialist), Karen Halversen (bookkeeper) and Nancy Wisse (accounts payable).

“I have been lucky to work with a good group of secretaries,” she said. “We work hard, but we have a good time, which I think is important in any job.

“We try to take breaks together every day to talk. We aren’t just co-workers. We’re also friends.”

Sager’s replacement is already waiting in the wings. Elementary School Secretary Julie Hahn has been tabbed to take over Sager’s position, beginning in July.

“Julie will do a great job,” Sager said. “She knows the district and is familiar with open enrollment, which is a big plus.

“She is also a stickler for detail, which a good trait to have for this job.”

Before she leaves the job, Sager will take time to teach Hahn the ropes, starting in May.

“The plan right now is to have Julie come in to train with me in May,” Sager said. “It is easier to teach someone to do a job like this, by showing them as you are actually doing it.

“Sometimes just explaining something, without actually doing it, can be confusing,” she said. “There are quite a few things to learn, but I have agreed to come back and help out from time to time, if they need me to.”

Sager has plenty of activities waiting for her in retirement.

“My husband Don retired a year ago, and I’ve seen how much fun he is having,” she said. “My son Kevin and his wife Beth, who live in Sheboygan Falls, have twin 1-year-old girls that I am really looking forward to spending more time with them.

“I am lucky to have my family live very close by. My daughter Michelle and her husband Randy live right next door to us, and our step-grandson Cody lives in Plymouth. I also hope to do some traveling on the Harley Davidson motorcycle we purchased recently.”

In addition to plenty of family time and a few motorcycle trips, Sager is hoping to volunteer in the Elkhart Lake area.

“I would like to volunteer at the Cedar Bay assisted-living facility and the schools in Elkhart Lake,” she

said. As her final day in the district office inches closer, Sager admits to having mixed emotions about retirement

“It’s bittersweet,” she said. “I am definitely looking forward to retirement, but I know I will miss it a lot. “I promised the ladies in the district office that I will come back for lunch once a week to catch up on all the good conversation.”