Jolinda Frattini, known as Joli by her friends and coworkers, worked as the business clerk in the bookstore at Joliet West High School until her retirement in January 2015. It’s a position that involves many responsibilities, including taking care of all of the school’s books and all of the money in the district.

Frattini described, “For registration I have to hire people to take money and do the registration, train them, and then during the year I distribute books.”

Books that are returned, not needed, or not in use come back to the bookstore. Many books are returned to the bookstore at the end of each semester.

“The summer is busiest… because we have to collect all the books from all the classrooms, scan them all in, clean them all, and then set them up for distribution in August,” Frattini illustrated.

In addition to books, Frattini deals with all of the money in the district, including summer activity, ID, and lunch fees. She says that her main job is balancing the school’s money.

“I take all the money in the district…any deposits for activities…any money that comes into the district comes through here now,” she explained.

With the addition of more online commerce for the school and the recent switch to a cashless lunch money system, Frattini’s days can be hectic.

“It gets a little busy,” she said, laughing.

Because of the amount of effort that goes into keeping the school’s financial system running, Frattini said that she doesn’t take much time off work.

“It’s kind of a work ethic that I was born with,” she explained.

Frattini retired from her position at the end of January.

“I hope once I retire I can…do something else. I used to enjoy walking…I like to travel. I haven’t done a lot of traveling lately,” she related.

In addition to these activities, Frattini hopes to be able to read and to spend more time with her grandchildren.

“I have three grandsons…. 10, 12, and 17. They keep me busy,” she admitted, fondly.

Frattini said that one her favorite parts of working at West was the students.

“I like dealing with the kids,” she said with a smile.

Frattini was an important part of Joliet West.

She related, “Even though this was not my alma mater, this is my school…this is my school, and I’ll do what I can to keep it running.”