Joining the main office staff, Ms. Patricia Marino is Cinnaminson High School’s new attendance secretary. 

Previously, Marino was a hairdresser for 25 years. She said she misses it; however, this new job gives her more free time and allows her to bond with her kids. She still cuts and styles her family and friends’ hair in her free time. 

Marino recalled some of the best moments in the salon.

“I miss the environment. It was a very fun environment. Working in a salon is always something different every day, and it’s a lot of people,” Marino said. 

While she no longer works in the salon on a daily basis, Marino is able to work alongside her sister, Mrs. Sue McNally every day. McNally is the athletic secretary for CHS. Marino said she enjoys working with her sister.

“It was a lot easier having my sister, ’cause if I didn’t know something, I didn’t feel bad bugging her because, and she’s also learning a new job, so she understands that, you need to act, that she has to help me because she needs help too,” Marino said.

McNally, Marino’s sister, explains some of the benefits and challenges she encounters while working with her sister. 

“Some of the benefits are that, you know, obviously we get along, so it’s a really good vibe in the office,” McNally said. “I guess the downside would be that she thinks she can boss me around.” 

Changing jobs after being at the same place for 25 years can be difficult. Luckily, McNally and Mrs. Theresa Sullivan, another main office secretary, have been able to assist with her transition and help her understand how everything works. 

Marino describes the tasks she must accomplish each day.

“So I basically keep track of the students all day. It’s whoever’s coming in late, absent, coming back in, putting in excused absences, doing the college visits, putting in all the field trips,” Marino said. “Yeah, so it’s honestly just keeping track of the students at all times.”

Besides her sister convincing her to work at CHS, Marino said she has always enjoyed working with kids. Marino has two twin senior sons, Ryan and Dominic Marino. She said she remembered the fun she had going on school field trips and being a room mom for her kids growing up. 

Transferring jobs from a hairdresser to an attendance officer gives Marino the ability to see her two sons more and be able to experience their senior year with them. 

“I’m looking forward to wrestling season. My boys both wrestle. So I’m very excited about that,” Marino said. “It’s their senior year, so I’m also sad because it’s gonna be over, and I feel like the year is gonna fly by. So I want it to go slow, but there’s a lot of milestones this year for me with having kids as seniors.”

Although there are not many challenges to her job, Marino said her goal is not to allow her work to pile up. She said she wants to keep everything organized and efficient.

 A downside to working in the main office is that if Marino’s children or their friends get in trouble, she has to write the slip and call them down, which she claims is “no fun.” Marino talks about how she handles hearing about a student close to her getting in trouble. 

“The bad part is that, obviously, I have to; they do get in trouble and I try to, just not react to the situation and let whoever’s handling it, handle it, but, you know it, I, I don’t miss a trick, so I know what’s going on. So I know when they’re in trouble before they do,” Marino said.

Marino encourages students to always smile, and she wants them to know that even if you mess up or get in trouble, it will be okay. Marino will always have a smile on her face and is open to helping students or answering all the questions they have for her about attendance. 

“I just try to be happy every day. I try to make the kids happy. I want them to smile, I want them to know when they mess up that they can do better, and that I’ll always be here,” Marino said. “If they need help with something, I mean, I do try to encourage them to be on time and stuff like that. Because I know they can do it.”