CROTHERSVILLE

Students being bused to Austin High School to take classes, staff members not being replaced after leaving or retiring and large elementary classrooms are among the concerns recently expressed by Crothersville residents.

It was standing-room-only at this month’s school board meeting, as people stayed more than an hour afterwards to share their thoughts on the state of the school with Superintendent Terry Goodin and the board of trustees.

With the corporation’s general fund budget going from $4.1 million about eight years ago to nearly $3 million now, Goodin and the board have had to figure out how to best handle the situation while maintaining the integrity of programming.

Crothersville began offering dual-credit classes in 2006-07 and started its partnership with Scott County School District 1 in 2012-13 for the Austin Crothersville Early College Initiative.

In that program, students take dual-credit courses taught by qualified high school teachers at Austin and Crothersville and professors with Ivy Tech Community College. They receive an associate degree in general studies after earning at least 61 credit hours.

The corporations split the cost of the $2,500 per professor, but it doesn’t cost the students any money.

In the past five years, 44 Crothersville students have received degrees. By doing so, they spend a year or two less and save between $30,000 and $40,000 in earning a higher college degree.

Those students still are considered Crothersville students and receive a Crothersville diploma.

“It’s one of those deals where we have to make decisions that are going to keep our school going forward in the right direction, and we made those decisions to keep our school open because it saves a lot of money for us to do that,” Goodin said. “Quite frankly, if we didn’t have the partnership we do with Austin, we would be in real trouble. … We’re saving thousands and thousands of dollars to be able to partner.”

Crothersville students also have been bused to C4 in Columbus for several years for career training. And this year for the first time, Ivy Tech is offering vocational opportunities where students do internships at businesses based on their career interest.

“We send our kids and challenge them to the highest abilities that we can challenge them so they can be as successful as they can be when they get out of school,” Goodin said. “The old days of sitting in a classroom in your school watching the teacher write on a chalkboard, those days are done, and those days are never coming back.”

The partnership also has led to not as many teachers needed at Crothersville, so as some have retired in recent years, their positions have not been filled.

That has led some Crothersville residents to think the school is going to close, and Goodin said that has never been discussed.

“The bottom line is Crothersville is going to have a school,” he said. “One hundred fifty years from now, there are probably going to be people in this boardroom talking about, ‘Are they going to close our school?’ I hope that’s the case because we’re going to have a school.

“The No. 1 issue, No. 1 priority for all of us is the educational programming that we put out, and I will challenge any school corporation to stack theirs against our programming pre-K through 12,” he said, noting Crothersville was the first school in the county to offer preschool.

“We’re on the cutting edge on all of that,” he said. “We’re not walking behind looking at what other people are doing. We’re blazing the trail, and other people are following what we’re doing.”

The recent resignation of elementary Principal Chris Marshall also surprised the community. That has resulted in Goodin and the school board looking at restructuring the administrative team, either staying with two principals or just having one.

Several people also have been concerned with a fifth-grade classroom having 37 students with just one teacher. Goodin said it initially was thought as many as 45 students could be in the class.

Even with 37, he said he is in the process of hiring a teacher to help. It’s possible someone also could be hired to help out in the fourth-grade classroom.

“We try to be very fiscally responsible, and we don’t make knee-jerk reactions,” Goodin said. “We make sure we analyze the situation, and we make sure that we’re making the right decision. Now, we know the decision to make is this (to hire a second teacher). We just try to do our best with the kids at heart.”

Residents also asked what could be done to keep students from leaving Crothersville for other schools.

Parent Jerad Sporleder said he’s not comfortable seeing a Scottsburg school bus come into town to pick up kids to attend school in that city.

“There’s a serious issue within this town and school system that is causing a full-size school bus to make a bus route through this town,” Sporleder said.

Goodin said parents send their children to a school that’s the best fit for them, so he would never chastise someone for doing that.

Open enrollment allows parents to choose where they send their children to school. Goodin said the school sends its newsletter to homes within a five-mile radius, hoping to draw students from town and the area.

Parent John Riley said he does what he can to promote the school to other parents.

“I’m always trying to sell other parents on sending their kids to Crothersville because I love the school system,” he said. “The community, the people, I really don’t think you can beat it.”

Parent Tiffany Reynolds suggested setting up town hall-type meetings to discuss the status of what’s going on within the corporation and give the public a chance to ask questions.

Monthly school board meetings at 6 p.m. on the first Monday have a public comment period, but some residents want other open forums.

“If there are things that we need to know, we need to talk about transparency, we need to talk about uniting as a team and doing what’s best for our kids,” Reynolds said. “You guys have a huge responsibility not only to the kids at the school but to the community to make sure checks and balances are in order and we’re all making the right decisions together that are best for the kids.”

Parent Tanita Hensley agreed there needs to be more transparency.

“We hear all of these rumors, and we don’t know what’s going on,” she said. “I know a lot of people have pulled their kids out (of the school). They just don’t know. They hear all of these rumors. There does need to be more transparency. People do need to know what’s going on, and a town hall meeting is a good idea. ”

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The Crothersville Community School Corp. board of trustees meets at 6 p.m. on the second Monday of each month at the central administration building, 201 S. Preston St.

Meetings are open to the public and press.

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