To say that Karen Garrity has had a good career as an educator would be an understatement. Those who have worked with her during her 43 years with Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. would more likely use terms such as “impactful” or “superb.”
How else to explain her contributions that run the gamut and have benefited students in many ways?
She started as a teacher at the former State Street School and then McDowell School, but also served in leadership positions such as principal at Mt. Healthy Elementary for 22 years, and was Bartholomew Consolidated’s first director of elementary education.
She was one of the early advocates for project-based learning at the elementary school level, helping the Columbus-based school district become what is believed to be the nation’s first school district with K-12 project-based pathways.
Garrity’s innovative thinking also resulted in the Book Buddies tutoring program for second- and third-graders to improve reading skills, and the Busy Bees Academy to provide prekindergarten opportunities for children.
She also wrote grants totaling an estimated $20 million, and outside the school district helped form the Bartholomew County Literacy Coalition.
Garrity certainly has made her mark. She is especially deserving of her induction into the BCSC Education Hall of Fame — but even that is an understatement.
