For more than two decades, Barb DuPré has been a steady presence in Monmouth-Roseville schools. Today, she serves as the building secretary at Harding, where her desk is both the hub and the heartbeat of the school. From morning attendance and lunch counts to afternoon dismissal and unexpected crises, Barb is the one who makes sure everything — and everyone — is accounted for.

Barb grew up in West Central Illinois but spent her early married life in Chenoa, northeast of Bloomington. In 1999, she and her husband, Don, made the decision to move back closer to her parents so their children could grow up with “grandma and grandpa time.” It was a choice rooted in family, and it set the stage for the next chapter of her life.

Her daughters, Kelly and Laura, both attended Monmouth schools — Kelly beginning before the district merged with Roseville in 2005, and Laura going through Monmouth-Roseville from start to finish. Today, both are grown, married, and thriving, with Kelly now the mother of Barb’s granddaughter, Isabella. “She lives just four blocks away,” Barb says proudly. “I get babysitting duties now, which is the best gift.”

Barb began her career in the district in 1999 as an instructional aide. After a short break to care for her children and a detour working another full-time job, she returned when a friend mentioned an opening at Lincoln School. “The schedule lined up perfectly with my kids,” she recalls. “Same days off, same vacations. It just worked.” She later helped close Willets School before moving back to Lincoln, where she wore many hats — recess duty, lunchroom, computer, instructional aide, and office support.

Eventually, she was hired as the building secretary at Harding, a role she has held for roughly 15 years. She laughs about how the job has evolved: “When I first started, the office was a quiet place. Now, it’s constant.”

Barb’s title may be “secretary,” but anyone in the building knows her role stretches far beyond the job description. She is the attendance clerk, lunch counter, nurse, mediator, counselor, and comforter — sometimes all in the same day.

She rattles off her daily routine with matter-of-fact calm: “Check everybody in. Do attendance. Take phone calls. Handle the lunch count. Then I give medicine to kids at lunch. Fix a few boo-boos. Answer more calls. And by the end of the day, it’s dismissal, which is always crazy.” Transportation mix-ups, anxious parents, power outages — Barb has handled them all. “People covering for me always say, ‘You can never be gone. Don’t ever leave us again!’” she laughs.

Education runs in Barb’s family. Her mother taught home economics in the Monmouth schools, later shifting to business classes like accounting, record-keeping, and computer skills. “I didn’t think I’d follow in her footsteps,” Barb admits. “I didn’t want to, at first. But here I am.”

In truth, she did follow her mother’s path, though in her own way. Where her mother taught in classrooms, Barb supports classrooms by keeping the school’s operations moving and its children cared for. Together, they represent different but equally vital threads in the fabric of education.

Barb’s journey isn’t only professional. Her marriage to Don began with a blind date, set up by a coworker, when they were both living in Bloomington-Normal. Thirty-two years later, the couple has built a life grounded in family and community.

Her greatest joy now comes from watching the next generations grow — from her daughters who once walked Monmouth-Roseville hallways to her granddaughter Isabella, who is just beginning her own story.

Asked why she continues to show up year after year, Barb’s answer is simple: “Because it matters.” She has seen schools adapt to change — the merger of Monmouth and Roseville, shifting parent expectations, the challenges of technology and screens. She has seen students grow, stumble, and succeed. She has seen how one steady hand in the front office can calm chaos and keep learning on track.

For Barb, the job is more than keeping files straight or phones answered. It is about being part of a team that raises children, steadies families, and strengthens a community. “I was raised by an educator,” she says. “Maybe I didn’t think I’d end up in education, but I guess it was always in my blood.”

Barb DuPré doesn’t just run the office at Harding. She helps run the heartbeat of the school itself — and, in the process, reminds everyone who passes through that schools are held together not only by teachers and principals, but also by the unsung heroes who greet us at the front desk.