After teaching special education in Brown County Schools for 19 years, David Chastain has retired from the district he calls home.
Chastain began teaching special education at Brown County Junior High School in 1998, until 2000 when he returned with his family to Colorado. He had lived and worked in Colorado for 18 years previously. He and his wife met in Colorado, then moved to Indiana with their daughter to be closer to family.
In Colorado, Chastain taught social studies and special education in two public schools there. He also worked in two psychiatric treatment hospitals for nine years.
But that return to Colorado was short-lived. “We decided we did not know how good we had it during our two years here, so we returned in 2002 and I was lucky enough to get a job again in Brown County Schools,” Chastain said.
Chastain worked as a special education teacher in Brown County High School for five years before moving to the former Nashville Elementary School where he taught for six years.
After the district was reorganized and Nashville Elementary became Brown County Intermediate School, Chastain returned to the junior high where he has taught special education for the past six years.
Chastain said that Brown County has been “very good” to him.
“I feel like it was the right kind of place for me to be. People have high expectations, but are down-to-earth and practical. For some reason, some of them even liked me, and I liked them, and it became home,” he said.
The Democrat sent Chastain a Q&A to learn about his time teaching.
Q: Have you always been a special education teacher?
A: No, I’ve not always been a special education teacher. I had a great job working in the mountains in a one-room schoolhouse as a licensed social studies teacher and I taught all subjects. It was part of a psychiatric hospital’s long-term stay program. When they decided to bring in kids with IEPs (individualized education plans), they told me I needed a temporary endorsement or I couldn’t keep my job. So, I took a couple classes a year, and after awhile they handed me a master’s degree that I never intended to get. I guess I kind of backed into special education.
Q: What made you decide to be a teacher?
A: I was working with kids in a psychiatric treatment facility and the hours were horrible. I worked weekends, holidays, evenings and overnights. The teachers had the best shifts and no summers, so when the facility closed and I was unemployed, I decided to take a class or two to see if I wanted to be a teacher’s aide. That was a specific certification then. That way, I could get on the “gravy shift” of all days five days a week and no emergencies. I guess I just forgot to stop taking the classes, and pretty soon they handed me a teaching certificate. So, like special education, I’m not sure I actually ever made a decision to be a teacher. I was not one of those people that played school when they were young and were destined to be a teacher. I guess I kind of backed into it.
Q: What are you most looking forward to about retirement? Do you have any big plans?
A: I don’t have any hard and fast plans about retirement. I guess I’ll back into something.
Q: What will you remember most about teaching?
A: What I remember most about teaching is “swimming in human beings.” Human beings everywhere, hundreds of them, all needing something, all asking something, all sneaking around, breathing and moving and being alive. There is probably not many jobs where you interact with hundreds of people every day. It is quite unique, very fulfilling and sometimes stressful, but it makes me smile.
Q: What’s one piece of advice you’d give to a new teacher?
A: First, you don’t have to know everything or do everything, so relax, shut up and listen, find a practical solution even though you might be told to do everything the hard way. Do your best, smile and move on. Forgive kids for being rude, forgive your principal for not recognizing how great you are, and forgive yourself for not always being as great as you think you should be. Chill, be nice, and it’ll work out.
