There will be a new superintendent in town starting next month while the school board looks for a permanent replacement for Laura Hammack.

The Brown County Schools Board of Trustees approved hiring Jim Halik as interim superintendent on May 6. Halik will start June 1 and leave once a new superintendent is picked, which should be around Aug. 2.

“I am really coming here to maintain status quo. I am here to help them. I am just a coach and mentor,” Halik said.

“I am here to help. I am not here to change anything. I am here to help resolve any issues or problems that might pop up, help conduct board meetings.”

After more than 45 years as an educator, Halik retired and started Compass-Keynote Consulting LLC in 2013. Now his business is training school boards and helping districts with strategic planning. With this business, Halik has worked for more than 200 school districts in Indiana.

“I run around and help school districts write their vision, come up with their mission statements and with their strategic plan. My vision is making a difference for all Hoosier children one school corporation at a time. I just feel like this is one more corporation that, maybe for two months, I might be making a difference in these Hoosier children.”

Halik first began working with Brown County Schools on the recent 10-year vision plan which restructured the district to help reduce the budget in light of declining enrollment and state funding.

The drive to his new office in Nashville is exactly 30 minutes from his front door in Johnson County, which was another appeal when he was approached about the job. He and his wife, Connie, a retired teacher, often come to Nashville for meals.

“This is quicker than Greenwood. The (Nashville) General Store is our lunch place. Hob Nob is our breakfast place,” he said.

Halik earned his bachelor’s degree in geology, natural resources, earth science and marketing from Ball State University. He earned his master’s degree from Ball State in geology, Earth science and secondary education and received his principal license.

He initially wanted to be a forester or park ranger. Because of his interest in geology and natural resources, Halik and his family loved Brown County State Park.

“We raised our girls there,” he said.

“The stories I could tell about Brown County State Park.”

Before retiring, Halik served for 10 years as the superintendent of Community School Corporation of Southern Hancock County. Before that, he was superintendent of Franklin Community School Corporation for 10 years.

His resume spans from 1975 when he started working as a science teacher at Perry Meridian Middle School to 2019 when he finished filling in as an interim principal at Custer Baker Intermediate School. He has also been an adjunct professor at Butler University, Franklin College, the University of Indianapolis and Indiana State University.

This is not the first time he has filled as an interim administrator. He served as an interim principal for four different schools and was interim superintendent for Richland-Bean Blossom School Corporation from 2017-2018.

Hammack said she has known Halik for many years and looks forward to “witnessing his positive impact on Brown County Schools during his service as interim superintendent of schools.”

Hammack is returning to Beech Grove City Schools in June, the district she left to become Brown County Schools superintendent in 2016. She was hired as Beech Grove’s new superintendent on April 13.

“Dr. Halik’s experience and contributions in a variety of districts is significant. He advised us during our planning process for the ‘10 Year Vision for Brown County Schools’ and our administrative team walked away from that experience appreciating the significant value that he adds to an organization,” Hammack said.

“He will serve as a fabulous conduit between my service and the onset of the new superintendent of Brown County Schools.”

The school board is working with the Indiana School Boards Association on the superintendent search. Halik said he is willing to help if they need him.

“If I can be a mentor, a coach and a guide, that is what I want, for people to take advantage of my experience and the work that I do,” he said.