Attendance Secretary Julie Rugenstein’s importance at Mill Valley

Mill Valley News: What is your job at Mill Valley? Describe some of your duties and responsibilities.

Julie Rugenstein: I’m the attendance secretary, so I keep track of students. When they come and go, if they’re here, if they’re not here, [and] if I need to call and find out why they’re not here. Also, if you’re late to school, you get a detention pass for me. If you’re late a lot, then you’ll get a letter from the school saying, ‘Why are you missing so much?’

MVN: Tell me about your background: Where did you grow up? Where did you go to college?

JR: I grew up on the Missouri side, north of the river in Kansas City, and moved out here 20 years ago. I went to school to be a manicurist, so I went to Paris [for] education, but decided I did not like that.

MVN: What are your hobbies/what do you do in your free time?

JR: I love to bake, I don’t do it very often, but I do love [it], and I just hang out with my kids. I have a senior this year, so I’m about to be an empty nester and that’ll be different for me. 

MVN: What made you come to Mill Valley?

JR: I don’t know, just like the feel when I worked here. I started in the cafeteria because I was a stay at home mom and just to have a little extra money, but still have the freedom to help my kids out when they were in elementary school. I just liked working here and so when an office position came up, I came here. It feels like home.

MVN: How long have you worked at Mill Valley?

JR: Well, I worked here for five years, [then] I left, I was at Horizon elementary for five years, and I came back at the start of my third year. 

MVN: What makes your job important to how Mill Valley operates?

JR: We know where children are and we have to make sure our students are safe. So if they’re missing, there might be something wrong. Overall, to keep kids safe.

MVN: What is your favorite thing about your job?  

JR: Getting to pick on children when they leave.

MVN: What is your favorite thing about MVHS?

JR: Just that it feels like a family. Everybody here feels like a family no matter what you’re in; if you’re a football player, band, kid, drama, robotics, everybody embraces everybody’s strengths.

MVN: Tell me about an item in your office or at your desk that is important to you.

JR: I have notes that several students have written me as thank you notes, or just thinking of you cards, and so I hang them up because I think they’re sweet.

MVN: What does this item represent? Why do you keep it here?

 JR: If I’m having a bad, stressful day, I can read and have something that somebody complimented me on, to help [during those days].

MVN: What else should students know about you?

JR: I love cats. I’m secretly a Bengals fan, but my son tells me I have to be a Chiefs fan. So I do love the chiefs, but I cheer for the Bengals. I love being a mom, I love supporting the drama department because that’s where my child’s at.