March 2021 – Mr. Tim Tierney has been the attendance specialist at O. Henry. He loves volunteering, helping with dogs, and spending time with his friends. But it sure is a difficult job, and soon you will see why Tierney is the best for it.

Question: What was your life like before you came to work at OHMS?

Tierney: Before I came to work at O. Henry, I was a parent volunteer at the front desk for the three years my son went to school here. I also am a realtor, and I do that on weekends for my clients. 

Question: What is your dream job?

Tierney: To be retired and to volunteer with all my time.  I am a founding board member of Gold Ribbon Rescue, and we rescue golden retrievers.  It would be fun to be able to have time to be more involved with the dogs.

Question: Why did you want to work here?

Tierney: After volunteering, I was asked at Austin High to substitute in their office.  I did that for a semester, and was asked to substitute for attendance here.  After a few weeks of substituting, I was offered the position here as the attendance specialist. I enjoy working with the kids and the teachers. My mom was a teacher and my grandmother was as well.  I’ve respected teaching for many years and while I was a substitute teacher in college, I realized that the classroom wasn’t for me.  I have a lot of respect for the teachers in my family. It’s not easy work, but I will say that at O. Henry, everybody makes it a lot easier by being very respectful and polite kids.

Question: What does a typical day look like for you?

Tierney: My day starts out with getting our substitute teachers set up for the day, answering the phone, and helping at the front door.  But the majority of my day is reconciling attendance for the district.

Question: How would the faculty and staff at OHMS describe you?

Tierney: I think they would describe me as friendly and willing to help out as needed.

Question: What are some of your favorite hobbies?

Tierney: Walking my dogs to relax and get some exercise, watching movies, and my volunteer work.  It used to be going to dinner with friends, and hopefully we can start doing that again by the summer.

Question: Working in the office, what is the hardest thing about your job

Tierney: Having to pester teachers to get their attendance taken on time. 

Question: Working in the office, what is the easiest thing about your job?

Tierney: It is easy when you know everything there is to know about attendance procedures and being able to answer any questions that parents or teachers have about it.

Question: How has work become different for you during COVID?

Tierney: I was doing my job from home from March last year up until this semester.  I found I could get more done and offer assistance to others without the distractions. Of course it is also not fun to wear a mask all day. 

Question: What other information would you like to share about your experience at O. Henry?

Tierney: We have a really good group of office staff that work well together.  We are lucky to have each other to rely on to help out with different situations and tasks. I love that all of our teachers care so much about the students and go out of their way to help them succeed!