Henry Benton

SWEET SECRETARY. After 35 years of service in the high school office, Carol Arrington will retire at the end of this year. “Ms. Carol” touched many hearts during her time at U-High.

Carol Arrington sits in the U-High office, with a stature of elegance and support, overseeing and taking care of the high school administrators, faculty and students, even if she’s easy to miss. Caring is often used to describe Ms. Arrington, so the portmanteau her Lab email creates is appropriate: carring.

“That is how she is known, that is how many people she has touched,” said Latin teacher Frances Spaltro, who served for a year as interim principal. “Every student, every adult that walks into that office understands how caring she is.” 

In 35 years working at Lab, Ms. Arrington has been a caretaker for the school through all of its changes, making many connections, and she will retire after this school year. 

Ms. Arrington started working at Lab because she wanted to have a similar schedule as her sons, who graduated from U-High in 1995 and ’97. Working at their school was the best option for her and her family, although she never expected to be at Lab for 35 years. 

“I’ve made a lot of friendships here, and that’s very special to me,” Ms. Arrington said. “It wasn’t just a job. I had a close relationship with a number of faculty and staff — though some of them have retired long ago — but we still stay in touch, and that’s pretty special to me.” 

Everyone who has met Ms. Arrington would tell you the same thing, Ms. Spaltro said, no matter if you’re a student, parent, a faculty member or staff, Ms. Arrington is the most caring person ever. 

In her retirement, Ms. Arrington plans to take care of her husband until his medical needs subside and they can start traveling together again. 

“I love to travel. So if I’m able to, I certainly will,” Ms. Arrington said. “My husband and I used to travel a lot. Right now he’s not able to do that. So it would be wonderful if we could do that again, and I look forward to that.”

Ms. Spaltro met Ms. Arrington 20 years ago when she started teaching at U-High as a graduate student at the University of Chicago. 

Ms. Arrington helped Ms. Spaltro adjust to working at Lab, and later she helped Ms. Spaltro get through one of the hardest times of her life, serving as interim principal in 2015-16. 

“That is when we became truly very close because I could not have done that without her,” Ms. Spaltro said. “That year was a difficult year for the high school in general but was also the year that my little brother died, and it was very sudden and I don’t think I could’ve gotten through that and continued to work without Ms. Carol.” 

After everything that Ms. Arrington has done to care for Ms. Spaltro, she had one final remark, signaling her love to Ms. Arrington and her endless appreciation for knowing her.

“I love you Ms. Carol,” Ms. Spaltro said. “I tell you that every time I see you, I love you. It’s not just a sort of ‘She’s so awesome in the workplace’ kind of friendship — it goes way beyond that.”

Ever diplomatic and humble, Ms. Arrington has embraced her role with grace, becoming the symbol of care that she is.

“Well, I guess I am kind of a caretaker in a way because whatever is needed, whether it’s faculty, parents, students, this is one of the main stops that they come to, and I do my best to help them get what they need. So, yeah, caretaker sounds pretty good.”