There are definitely challenges when it comes to running the Brown County Career Resource Center.
But if you ask retiring director Dave Bartlett about the rewards, a smile slowly spreads across his face, because helping people achieve their goals is satisfying work.
“It’s working with the people who are here to provide themselves with better opportunities for employment through education. Because the people that come in here are all challenged by life circumstances. They’re really persistent in their pursuit of improving their lives through getting education,” Bartlett said.
“Not everybody is going to necessarily fulfill their goals, but they are in here taking the challenge on of what life throws at them. It’s inspiring. It makes you want to come to work in the morning.”
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]“The students come here with a dream of some kind whether it’s to get a diploma or further education or whatever. It’s just very rewarding to me to help students achieve their dreams,” added Sue Dillon, who was the director before Bartlett. She’s been working as the adult education facilitator for several years, overseeing the high school equivalency program and helping students get into Ivy Tech.
On June 30, both Bartlett and Dillon will retire.
Christy Wrightsman, former principal of Van Buren Elementary and assistant principal at the high school, will take over as director of the CRC. For the past year, through a grant-funded job, she has been studying ways for Brown County Schools to more closely align its curriculum with job opportunities and training gaps in the region.
Wrightsman said in May that she would love to make opportunities for younger students students to participate in activities at the CRC as well.
“I think it’s important for the community to know that the services and the opportunities the career resource center has offered in the past will absolutely still be there; we’re just going to be uniting some other opportunities with those as well,” she said.
Dreams come true
Dillon started working as the lifelong learning facilitator at the CRC in 2002, just one year after the CRC opened its doors. The center was established with a $5 million CAPE (Community Alliances to Promote Education) grant from the Lilly Endowment Inc.
Before that, she worked as the director of admissions at Ivy Tech in Columbus and was a teacher. She worked with students in the Marion County Juvenile Detention Center who had problems with reading and math.
“I have always been interested in working with students with learning deficits and those who need extra help,” she said.
When the CRC’s first director, Mary Lou Nay, retired in 2008, Dillon took over, until 2010 when Bartlett was made director.
Dillon decided to step down from the director job to work hands-on with students. She missed that part of the work. “I don’t enjoy dealing with things like budgets and administrative tasks. I just wanted to have a direct impact on students,” she said.
Prior to coming to work at the CRC, Bartlett worked at the Harmony School in Bloomington and at Indiana University.
“At the time that I became director, which was May of 2010, the CRC was nearly out of business. It was about to run out of the funding from Lilly, which was the original funding,” he said.
By Bartlett’s estimate, if a one-cent property tax referendum had not passed in 2010, the CRC would have closed its doors in six months.
“I believe the first referendum passed on the merit of the work that had already been done. The community spoke and said, ‘Yes, we want this to continue.’ That’s a huge thing right there,” he said.
In 2016, voters again voted to give one cent of an eight-cent referendum to the CRC, with the remaining seven cents going to help the school district’s general fund.
Barlett said the referendum has provided sustainability that will help keep staff in the building.
“To get good people, like what we have right now, they can’t be wondering if they are going to have a job next year,” he said.
In June the CRC will reach its “high point” when it comes to finances, he said. Part of the reason for that is due to the additional money the CRC received last year, when the 2010 and 2016 referendum payments overlapped, resulting in two payments being made.
“I am pleased that I am leaving here with it in financially good shape, but at the end of the day, it’s all about how you’re serving the community,” he said.
“You can’t just continue to do the same thing when the world is changing around you.”
One of those changes is growing the CRC’s relationship with Brown County Schools.
“Before I became director, there was not really a lot of strong ties with the school other than they are our governing and fiscal agent. There wasn’t a lot of programming going on necessarily with the schools,” Bartlett said.
He had started his teaching career with Brown County Schools as the fifth- and sixth-grade science teacher at Sprunica Elementary School in 1977.
“As a person who has taught in K-12 I don’t like the idea that we just wait until people get out of one school and start in on a course if they don’t complete high school,” he said.
“It isn’t just waiting for them to, say, drop out of high school and come here for high school equivalency. It’s more of a matter of trying to get involved with career programming and to support the students in the schools a little better, which increases the awareness of what the CRC opportunities are.”
Over the last two years, the CRC’s presence in the schools has grown.
At Brown County Junior High School, the CRC hosts the Speakers Bureau and the Reality Store.
At Brown County High School, Shannon Brunton, the graduation and career coach with the CRC, works with freshmen and sophomores identified as at risk for dropping out.
‘A different world’
This is not the first time Sue Dillon has retired from the CRC. It’s her second.
“I retired once a few years ago and couldn’t stay away, so I came back. This time it’s going to have to take, because I’m 71 going on 72. I want to do some things just for myself now and probably do some volunteering,” she said.
Her plans include reading, fishing, gardening and “I don’t have any plans bigger than that at the moment. Something will come up,” she said.
The most rewarding part of her job has been when people come back to share their success stories, “to report to me that they have finished a college degree or they have obtained a job they couldn’t have gotten previously. The most rewarding part is the individual relationships that have been built as a result of this job,” she said.
One student in particular sticks out. She had come into the CRC to look into taking a cooking class. ”I talked to her a little bit. I said, ‘Why don’t you take some courses and work towards a degree? Try Ivy Tech.’
“She went ahead and became a registered nurse. I just heard from her after all of these years. She just received her master’s degree as a nurse practitioner in psychiatric nursing.
“That’s the kind of stuff that just amazes me.”
As of November 2016, 512 people have been awarded degrees, technical certificates and certificates who have taken one or more classes at the CRC. Five hundred seventy others had received high school equivalency diplomas.
The CRC also has developed a relationship with Brown County Health and Living to train nurses, and graduates of the CRC’s electrician program are sought-after employees.
“While I’m fishing, I’ll just think back on some of these people,” Dillon said.
Bartlett said that retirement will be a “a different world,” but he’s excited for the change. “It’s just something where it’s always out there on the horizon, and suddenly the horizon is there,” he said.
“I feel like I’ve kind of done what I can do for the CRC at this point. I think that personally, I’m looking forward to just having a less stressful life and be able to work on things I’ve wanted to do for quite a while.”
Bartlett is a musician who plays guitar. He’s released one CD and plans to release another, and do more live performances.
He’d also like to start a small farming business at his home, growing flowers and herbs. His other plans include furthering his own education, volunteering and spending more time with his four grandchildren.
Returning to Brown County to finish his career in education was a great way to close this chapter in his life, he said.
“To come home here and work the last 10 years of my career in the community in which I live, I’ve lived here for 44 years now, it just was a great way to finish out my career.
“I’ve gotten to know so much about the community. In all those years I worked in Bloomington, I wasn’t really involved with the community. I’ve been able to forge a lot of good working relationships with people throughout the community and that’s been really fun.
“Serving your own community is a great gift, especially at the end of my career.”
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”Retiring teacher: Brad Baughman” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
Q: How long have you been a teacher?
A: I started teaching seventh and eighth grade language arts in the Twin Lakes School Corporation in Monticello, Indiana. I was there from 1979 to 1984. During those five years, I coached junior high football and was an assistant coach for the high school girls basketball team and the high school baseball team. I then took two years to work on a master’s degree in sports administration at Indiana University, where I was a graduate assistant to the women’s athletic director.
I really had no intentions of getting back into the public school system, aspiring instead to land a position in intercollegiate athletics. After a summer of unsuccessfully trying to find such a job, the opportunity to be athletic director and teacher at Brown County High School came and I accepted it.
In 2001, I resigned from the athletic director position and stayed at the high school to run a mentoring program and serve as the attendance officer. I then moved to the junior high in 2003 or 2004 to teach language arts. I coached seventh grade boys basketball for a few years and continue to coach high school boys and girls golf.
Q: What made you decide to be a teacher?
A: My father was a professor at Indiana State University, so I grew up in a household where summers were more vacation-oriented than work-oriented, and I liked that schedule. I chose teaching because I thought it would be a good fit for me and I wanted to coach.
Q: What are you most looking forward to about retirement?
A: I plan to keep my golf coaching assignments and will look for some part-time employment to stay active. I also hope to volunteer my time in the community somehow. I am most looking forward to a more flexible schedule that does not have to start each day at 6 a.m.
Q: What will you remember most about teaching?
A: I have been very blessed to work with exceptional people at every juncture of my career. I still maintain close ties with my Monticello teaching and coaching friends and continue to be surrounded by great friends and family members here in Brown County.
My time as athletic director was quite challenging and stressful. Things were different then and I had difficulty keeping up with the many demands of the job. Sprinklers would pop up and start spraying in the middle of a varsity football game. More than once I had to be creative getting a soccer field ready for a contest because a sinkhole on the field had caused a potential hazard. I remember spending entire afternoons getting a rain-soaked baseball or softball field ready for a 4:30 p.m. game. Our facilities now are top notch and I hope our athletes never take that for granted.
A positive memory will be coaching the 2016 boys’ golf team to the first ever IHSAA regional appearance. That group will always be special to me. And of course, I have had the privilege to teach wonderful students who have left our school and made a positive mark in society.
Q: How would you describe your time at Brown County Schools?
A: My time here has been educational. I learned much about myself, about how a school corporation works, about how to work as a member of a team and about how to appreciate the differences in the people with whom I work and the students I have had the opportunity to instruct.
Q: What’s one piece of advice you’d give to a new teacher?
A: Don’t be intimidated or overwhelmed by the scope of your responsibilities. Seek assistance and advice from your more experienced peers and get to know your building administrator. Don’t view him or her as an adversary, but your best ally. Get to know your students as best you can. They will probably remember you more for that than they will remember the grade they earned in your class. Have a sense of humor, and always be willing to laugh at yourself.
[sc:pullout-text-end][sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”Retiring teacher: Vickie Burns” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
Q: How long have you been a teacher?
A: My entire teaching career has been with Brown County Schools. I did my student teaching at Helmsburg Elementary in fifth grade with Mr. Berbeco in the fall of 1985. I then began subbing in January of 1986. In February of 1986 I was granted an emergency license to teach in one of the special education classrooms at Brown County High School for the spring semester. In August of 1986 I was hired to teach third grade at Sprunica Elementary. The rest of my teaching career has been at Sprunica Elementary. I have taught preschool through third grade and enjoyed each grade level.
Q: What made you decide to be a teacher?
A: I love teaching. I love helping someone discover they can do something they didn’t think they could. I think that is why I have loved teaching in the primary grades. When a child discovers that they are a reader and that they can communicate by writing, it is exciting for them and for me as well. When you teach someone to become a reader and writer, you know you have helped them learn a skill they will use for the rest of their life.
Q: What are you most looking forward to about retirement?
A: I am most looking forward to being able to leisurely pursue my interests on my own time frame. During retirement I won’t have to follow a daily schedule that every minute is planned, or a calendar that is given to me. Retirement will give me more flexibility with my time. I am planning on becoming more immersed in the family business. I plan on spending more time with my husband and family.
Q: What will you remember most about teaching?
A: My favorite memories include all the many themed units we used to do that spanned across grade levels. Some of my favorite units included friendships, the rainforest and the first Thanksgiving.
Q: How would you describe your time at Brown County Schools?
A: I have always felt at home. The staff, children and parents feel like one big family, with everyone working to help children grow into productive, caring leaders of tomorrow.
Q: What’s one piece of advice you’d give to a new teacher?
A: Communicate, involve and include parents in your classroom.
[sc:pullout-text-end][sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”Other retirees” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
Several Brown County Schools staff members announced their retirements this school year:
Angie Aumage, occupational therapist (retired after first semester)
Linda Baker, Brown County High School head custodian
Vickie Beach, Brown County Intermediate School paraprofessional
Al Kosinski, director of student services
Brenda Krieger, Sprunica Elementary School science teacher (retired after first semester)
Pat Mulryan, Brown County Junior High School health assistant
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