I see her every morning, behind a desk covered in papers or walking briskly between offices, confirming some event or questioning whether something or other has gotten done, and it’s easy to take it all for granted. But now Ms. Diane Seiger is leaving the school and nothing will be the same.

“She probably runs the whole school,” Lupe Osorio told me with a smile on her face.

But that’s probably no exaggeration.

Seiger, whom this school knows affectionately as “Ms. Diane,” really does run a lot of DPMHS’ operations: it’s her job to schedule substitute teachers, add events to the calendar, order school supplies (which, at a public school and without assistants, is a major task) and do the school payroll. When Ms. Diane is absent, the administration is left reeling.

I’ve never been familiar with everything Ms. Diane does at this school but the sheer scale of her job is staggering and I don’t know how we’ll function without her. Still, after all these years of service, she more than deserves a retirement.

It’s Ms. Diane who runs the nurse’s office during the four out of five days the official nurse is absent and as someone who has repeatedly benefitted from being able to ice a sore muscle when, officially speaking, there’s no one home, I can say that Ms. Diane’s work has made my life a whole lot easier.

Ms. Diane has often been here to help students despite carrying much of the weight of the school on her shoulders. I have been able to consult her numerous times in matters that were unimportant enough compared to her job that she could have told me to get lost and it would have been completely justified.

To say Ms. Diane has always been there is not true. She’s everywhere at once, but that just makes her even more of a valuable asset to our school. It’s going to be a tall order to fill the gap after she starts her much-needed rest.

Thank you Ms. Diane, for everything you have done for this school. Now go to your retirement; You’ve earned it.