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Altenburger retires as principal
OTTOVILLE — Great co-workers, great students and great parents have made the past 18 years as Ottoville High School principal a pleasure for Bill Altenburger.
“I couldn’t have asked for better people to work with,” Altenburger said Thursday at a reception held in his honor after classes were dismissed for the summer. “The community has entrusted me with their most precious commodity and I thank them for that.”
Altenburger accepted the job in 1989 after serving as a teacher and basketball coach at Fort Jennings.
Elementary School Principal Scott Mangas said Altenburger took him under his wing when he started.
“He has taught me so much. Most of us will never see the total impact Mr. Altenburger has had on the students but several of us have seen the early morning counseling sessions with struggling students, the after-school ride home for a stranded student and the many dollars loaned to those who did not have money for lunch or enough to go on a special trip,” Mangas said. “Mr. Altenburger has always done what was right for students and for this he will be greatly missed.”
Newly hired Superintendent Larry Moore hasn’t spent a lot of time with Altenburger but said what he has seen of Altenburger was exemplary.
“In the short time I have known him, he has been nothing but a true professional. He was very instrumental in my transition coming to Ottoville and conversations I have had with teachers, students and the community have been nothing but positive,” Moore said. “What he has dealt with in his 18 years as principal I can only imagine.”
Altenburger said he will miss everyone and the challenges he faced.
“In education, every day is a challenge. You would get through one day and the next would bring something new,” he said.
He and his wife, Janet, are still weighing their options about future plans. They have two children in Cincinnati they would like to spend more time with and several of the gifts he received Thursday may indicate some of his interests. Co-workers presented him with a garden bench and a stone engraved with his name and the Ottoville mascot and a book of great road trips.
Art teacher Cory Boecker drew a rendering of Altenburger and said the project was difficult due to Altenburger’s reluctance to put himself in the spotlight.
“I had a lot of trouble finding enough pictures of Mr. Altenburger to do the drawing. It was a surprise so I didn’t want to make is obvious that I needed to get a good look at him,” Boecker said.
Jon Thorbahn, 33, of Ottoville will take over for Altenburger in the 2007-08 school year.
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