BROWNSTOWN
The Brownstown Central Community School Corp. board of trustees unanimously approved Greg Walker’s resignation as superintendent.
During a special meeting Monday night in the superintendent’s office, it was announced that his last day with the corporation will be Sept. 30.
His first day as superintendent of Paoli Community School Corp. is Oct. 1.
“I would just like to say thanks for the opportunity to serve this corporation the past 14 years and best wishes in the future,” the 47-year-old told trustees.
Walker spent his first 11 years of education teaching in Bedford and then started working at Brownstown in 2004. He was the high school assistant principal from 2004 to 2011 and middle school principal from 2011 to 2014.
Jim Terrell announced his retirement in the spring of 2014, and Walker applied for the superintendent position and was interviewed and hired in May of that year.
Walker recently said his reason for resigning is “philosophical differences” with a few of the school board members.
Mary Ann Spray, president of the seven-member appointed school board, shared some comments with Walker at the end of Monday’s meeting.
“I wish you the very best at Paoli and your family, as well,” she said. “I hope that this is a good time for you to expand your career and be successful in a new area of your choice, so good luck with that. It has been a pleasure to work with you prior to being our superintendent, so I wish you the best of luck.”
Spray said a transition team will be formed soon to hire a new superintendent. That will consist of the three building principals, business manager Jade Peters and former business manager Harry Rochner, who works on a consulting basis.
Right now, though, she said the focus is on the families of the four teenagers killed Saturday night when they were hit by a vehicle as they pushed a broken-down vehicle on State Road 258 in Cortland.
Brownstown Central High School freshmen Nevaeh Law and Brittany Watson, Seymour High School junior Martin Martinez and Seymour High School freshman Jenna Helton died.
Five other local students, Starlit Watson, Victoria Burchard, Victoria Valdivia, Allerika Henline and Courtney Arthur, were injured.
“These are four children that have been taken on to a higher place, and our condolences and sympathies certainly go out to those families, friends, both school corporations and obviously, our whole community,” Spray said during the meeting.
She then noted there are several ways to financially support the families, including fundraising events and online accounts.
Also, the Centerstone crisis team and three comfort dogs from Lutheran Church Charities K-9 Comfort Dog Ministry were at Brownstown Central High School on Monday, and Fellowship of Christian Athletes organized a prayer vigil Tuesday morning that more than 200 people attended.
“We are working very diligently to meet those needs of those families and our students,” Spray said.
The transition team will meet when it determines an appropriate time.
“We are going to aggressively move forward, but we feel that our concern is these families,” Spray said. “I think we need to be cognizant of that time and not take that time away from those folks and those students. We know we have a job to do, and we’re eager to do that, but we feel our first concern right now is these families and this tragedy. Hopefully, within the next week or two weeks, there will be more of a guideline.”