“What would it look like if we really loved our kids?”

That was the question asked recently by Brown County Schools Superintendent, Emily Tracy, in her weekly message to her Brown County Schools staff.

Hello! My name is Deborah Harman and I am the Director of Student Support Services for Brown County Schools. Emily’s question has had me thinking all week. She wasn’t insinuating that we don’t already care deeply for the students we serve. Emily was asking us to picture what school would look like, sound like, feel like, be like, if we really loved our students. She asked us to specifically consider our district’s vision for excellence when thinking about her question.

As the Director of Student Support Services I oversee state assessment, special programs, grants management, curricular materials adoption, counseling, learning recovery, early education and more.

Each area of Student Services exists to serve students. So if we “really loved” our kids would these programs be different? Might they support better student outcomes, safer schools, recruit and retain more talented people and engage more families?

I want everyone reading this article to know that there are wonderfully talented people working within the Student Services Department of Brown County Schools. They are doing hard things during challenging times with ALL kids.

As a department, our sights are set on the five BCS Priorities of: student outcomes; school safety; recruitment and retention of teachers; school, family and community engagement; and happy staff and happy students.

We have programs and services in place right now in our schools to support students. However, if we really think about loving our kids, the possibilities could be endless!

The BCS Special Education program has a history of meeting the needs of students with disabilities with the highest intent to impact student outcomes and provide accommodations. This pre-K through 12 program celebrated a 90.91% state graduation rate in 2022 and a five-year state graduation rate of 91.6%.

The success of our students eligible for “specially designed instruction” is a credit to the talent and expertise of both general and special educators.

In Brown County, the majority of students with disabilities are fully included in the general education classroom alongside non-disabled students. Inclusive education yields better student outcomes when supported properly.

Given that the federal government has never fully funded special education at the full 40% promised years ago, state and local education funds are required to assure that all students are receiving their education most effectively.

Our pride in this program rests in the individual students, teachers, paraprofessionals and administrators who embrace excellence in student outcomes as they begin each day.

The BCS Counseling program has grown over the past several years. It began with a grant for Comprehensive School Counseling awarded by the Lilly Endowment in 2016.

The district worked with the greater community of Brown County mental health professionals to design a framework for increasing the number of students who are emotionally healthy, realize academic success, graduate from high school, obtain post-secondary credentials, and are prepared to compete and prosper in a global society.

We love our kids through prioritization of federal grant funding to place one full-time counselor in each elementary school, two full-time counselors in our middle school, and retain two full-time counselors in our high school.

The BCS student to counselor ratio meets the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) standard of 250-1 while the national average is 408-1 and the Indiana average is even more alarming at 694-1.

Maintaining our low ratio is extremely challenging. A nationwide shortage of counseling professionals makes recruitment and retention difficult. We are so thankful for our partnership with Centerstone which has been a symbol of pre-K through 12 student support excellence for over five years.

The BCS Early Education program is a shining example of what can happen when a community of supporters really loves their kids. Brown County Schools is now home to seven preschool classrooms and one classroom for toddlers.

Affordable early education options for families in Brown County have increased significantly as a result of the Brown County Community Foundation Preschool Scholarship program.

The initiative provides early education tuition support to families who qualify for free and reduced price meals. In fact, by the end of this school year, over 200 children will have benefited from the BCCF’s support.

Competitive private and state grants have also played a critical role in growing our capacity to love our kids through early education in Brown County. The BCCF and BCS together have brought in well over $1.5 million in grants to give local families an opportunity to offer their children foundational experiences in early learning close to home.

Thank you Emily for asking the question, “What would it look like if we really loved our kids?” The answer is, “beautiful!”

Deborah Harman is the director of student support services for Brown County Schools. She can be reached at [email protected].

Enrollment set

Please join us on Tuesday, April 18 at Helmsburg Elementary, Sprunica Elementary and Van Buren Elementary between the hours of 4 and 6 p.m. for Preschool and Kindergarten Enrollment. You may also visit the Early Education Center between 5 and 7 p.m. located at 260 S. Schoolhouse Lane in Nashville for our Toddler Room open house and Preschool/Toddler enrollment at the EEC.

Deborah Harman is the director of student support services for Brown County Schools. She can be reached at [email protected].