2014 - Regional Classified School Employee of the Year - Gretchen Mann

Gretchen has been the office manager at WestSide for the past 12 years. Her professionalism, integrity and fun loving nature have helped the school transition through three principals and a new building during that time.



Gretchen’s duties at WestSide include managing the office and supervising classified staff for the school’s on-site programs and its offi-site juvenile detention program. She also believes the relationship building with Westside’s alternative population continues to be one of the most important of her duties and eagerly anticipates WestSide’s traditional “hug line” at graduation where she can personally congratulate students for the accomplishments.



Gretchen is committed to integrating WestSide’s unique work into state and federal rules. She recently took the lead in finding and implementing a computer system to track new Alternative Learning Requirements and meet reporting requirements. She was able to streamline the process and take on the reporting requirements herself so that valuable instruction time was preserved.



In addition to all of this, Gretchen has also served on her school’s Learning Improvement Team. She is a respected member of the larger community and an active volunteer, so when the opportunity arose to partner with the local Rotary Gretchen was a natural choice. Gretchen served as the Rotary liaison for two years and worked with the Rotary to change the community’s perception of WestSide and to raise much needed funds for school projects.



For Principal Kory Kalahar, Gretchen’s greatest asset is her heart. “If WestSide is a family, Gretch is mom to us all. She is the nurturer. She is the disciplinarian. She is the one who gives praise, and she is the one who hangs our artwork on the fridge.”