The time has really flown by for Cardinal Transportation Coordinator Diane Baumgartner. Baumgartner will conclude her longtime career in the Cardinal School District when she officially retires on Sep. 5.
“It has gone quickly,” Baumgartner told The Weekly Villager on June 27. “The people that I work with are great, so it is kind of bittersweet, but it is time. My husband has been retired for three years so this way we can just start to enjoy a little bit.”
Baumgartner has served as Cardinal’s Transportation Coordinator for 25 years. In the wake of her impending retirement, Athletic Director Jimmy Soltis will take over as the Transportation Supervisor while maintaining his full-time role as the Athletic Director.
Although Baumgartner’s tenure with the Cardinal School District is nearing its end, she said that she still plans to stay active by volunteering her time with school activities, including assisting with the middle school volleyball team coached by hher daughter who succeeded Baumgartner when she stepped down as the coach after 30 years.
“I have a lot of friends who are in the district or still work so I am sure if I get bored at home, I can fill in and help out where I am needed,” she noted.
A graduate of Cardinal High School, Baumgartner didn’t stray too far from the nest attending college at Kent State University. The Huskies’ alum returned to Middlefield in 1983 as a substitute teacher.
Having been a Middlefield resident since childhood, Baumgartner acknowledged that she always enjoyed the homey feeling of Middlefield and never wanted to be too far away even when she in college.
In addition to assuming the role of substitute teacher, Baumgartner fulfilled many other duties in the school district with part-time positions such as working as a library aide, maintenance secretary, transportation secretary and secretary to the superintendent.
According to Baumgartner, being an active contributor in the school district runs in the family, as four generations of Baumgartners have worked in the school district in some capacity. Although she fulfilled many jobs all at once, being actively involved was something that she embraced.
“You work with people you grew up with, a lot of people that I work with, I went to school with,” the 1978 graduate noted. “Here there are a lot of community members that work in the district so there is a lot of heart in everything that we put into the district and what we do, we have a vested interest in it.”
Baumgartner began working part-time as a transportation secretary in 1991 but was already familiar with the transportation department as her mother had been a school bus driver in Middlefield for over 40 years.
In 2000, Baumgartner was promoted to the transportation coordinator and has remained in the position for 25 years.
“I enjoyed the job and the people and when the opportunity came around, it felt like a good fit,” she said.
In a climate where school districts have struggled to fill positions for bus drivers, Baumgartner said that she been blessed to have a stable of reliable school bus drivers, which has kept the transportation department from being understaffed. She said that the Cardinal School District has benefited from the fact that most of the school bus drivers are Cardinal graduates.
“They live in the district, they have had kids in the district, they went to school here,” she said. “I have substitutes that have been with me for years. They are pretty much set for the school year, we are set to go, we can always use new bus drivers to come in and to learn the routes and do stuff, but our guys are pretty loyal. It is a great group to work with.”
A full roster of bus drivers for the last several years helped Baumgartner in eventually deciding to retire in the first week of the 2025-26 school year, knowing that the transportation department will run smoothly.
As much as Baumgartner is hoping to stay involved in school activities, she said that she is also keen to do some traveling with her husband when her retirement officially begins in the second week of September.
“I am sure I’ll be active somehow in the district and the community after I am done but with my husband retiring three years ago, I think we are ready to just do some traveling and visit family that is not in Middlefield,” she said.
