Turn the clock in your head back 35 years. It’s 1985. A movie star is in the White House. Cold War leaders are just starting to break the ice. MTV is bigger than reality TV.
It was a different world for everyone, including teachers. For one thing, cell phones had only been on the market for two years and were not yet the classroom menace they’d later become. For another, the first Apple Macintosh had only been on the market for a year. A world where classrooms were filled with technology — and, in desperate times, existed almost solely over technology — was unimaginable for any teacher in 1985.
For retiring chemistry teacher Kevin Darr, 1985 was the year he began working for the Bartholomew Consolidated Schools Corp. (though he had already been teaching since 1978, as well as coaching track, cross-country and wrestling). He had heard about BCSC while attending a genetics class at Ball State University over the summer, where he met two Columbus East High School teachers, Carol Goshorn and John Kessler.
“They told me about East High School, team-teaching and large groups and a lab that’s like a college lab, and I didn’t believe them,” Kevin said. “When I took a year off to go to Bloomington, they invited me over, and I took a tour, fell in love with it. And lo and behold, that spring an opening came up, and I interviewed, and they hired me. So then I started teaching at East High School in the fall of ‘85.”
It was also about 1984 or 1985 when school psychologist Linda Provenso began working for BCSC part-time, just a few years before meeting Kevin — her future husband.
“She was doing work with one of the East high school students in that main office,” Kevin said. “And I was down in the office, and my voice carries. And she came out to tell me, I think, the student told you, ‘That’s Mr. Darr out there.’ So she came out, kind of introduced herself. And that’s how we met.”
The couple met in January and were married the following December, in 1988. Now, on May 29, 2020 — 32 years, three children (all of whom had Kevin as a teacher) and four grandchildren later — Kevin and Linda Darr are retiring. They plan to spend a lot of time with family and friends.
Needless to say, their final semester of teaching has been an unusual one. When Kevin’s students were told on March 11 (his last day teaching in his classroom) to take their devices home and prepare for the possibility of extended spring break, he thought that meant spending an extra week or two out of school. Moving everything over to eLearning, he said, was a “steep learning curve” at first, though it ended up going well, in his opinion.
Linda said that her work has continued as she writes reports and attends online conferences. However, she added that if the schools remain online, school psychologists may face challenges in their work.
“I can’t think of anything this compares to,” Linda said.
“The closest I can come to it is two years ago,” said Kevin. “We had a lot of flooding here, and several of the roads were closed. It got to the point where we ended up having to close school for three consecutive days, so that was kind of an eye-opener about how we needed to make sure we were ready for eLearning.”
In spite of the challenges they’ve faced (especially over the past few months), the Darrs have enjoyed their time working in education.
“I think teaching was my calling,” Kevin said. “I like working with young people, and I like just being with people. And I like science. … I know a lot of people change their jobs four or five times, so I feel very fortunate in that way that it was just a perfect fit, that when I got in it it was something that I really enjoyed doing and enjoy doing every day.”
Linda agreed, “Working with kids has been the best part.”
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Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. honored retiring teachers and staff members in May, although pandemic safety concerns did not allow for them to be honored at a board meeting.
Instead, the board read a list of retirees that included their names, current positions, BCSC locations and years of experience. For support staff, this number included their years serving at BCSC; for certified staff members, this number included their years of professional experience.
“Between the two groups, they have 947 and a half years’ experience,” said Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources Teresa Heiny. “If you just look at certified, they have 573 and half years of experience.”
In total, 34 BCSC employees retired during the 2019-2020 school year. Here are their names and years of experience.
Clifty Creek Elementary
- Vicki Gust, (23 years).
- Christina Purtlebaugh, English teaching assistant (21 years).
- Stella Pyles, special education teaching assistant (9 years).
Mt. Healthy Elementary
- Trish Brennan, fifth grade teacher (27.5 years).
- Maureen Sermersheim, nurse (22 years).
Parkside Elementary
- Marsha Jones, cafeteria manager (24 years).
Richards Elementary
- Debbie Burnett, third grade teacher (35.5 years).
Rockcreek Elementary
- Sharon McDonald, special education teaching assistant (20 years).
Schmitt Elementary
- Deb Davis, counselor (39.5 years).
- Lori Eversman, second grade teacher (30 years).
Central Middle School
- Melanie Enkhoff, French teacher (39 years).
Northside Middle School
- Brad Voegerl, physical education teacher (38.5 years).
- Jennifer Wallace, family and consumer sciences teacher (33 years).
Columbus East High School
- Jeff Burgmeier, special education teacher (14 years).
- Kevin Darr, chemistry teacher (40 years).
- Ann Edds, senior projects coordinator (27 years).
- Melanie Enkhoff, French teacher (39 years).
- Denise Kocur, art teacher (22 years).
- Karen Nading, family and consumer sciences teacher (44 years).
- Marla Page, special education teaching assistant (19 years).
- Mary Lou Pieper, food service employee (12 years).
- Kate Shea, building tech (21 years).
- Garry Taylor, C4 automotive instructor (44 years).
Columbus North High School
- Toni Held, library/media teacher (27 years).
- Nyoka King, food service employee (19 years).
- Wanda Sue Morgan, custodian (17 years).
- Dale Nowlin, math department chair (43 years).
- Brenda Schaefer, special education teaching assistant (24 years).
Johnson Education Center
- Patricia Campbell, special education teaching assistant (27 years).
T&M
- Thomas J. Perry, Trades – Plumber, (32 years).
Information Services Center
- Becky Schwantes, student services coordinator (34 years).
Administration
- Linda Darr, school psychologist (25 years).
- Larry Perkinson, student assistance coordinator (44.5 years).
- Jayne Surface, superintendent assistant (26 years).
- Carol Watler, administrative assistant in special education, (24 years).
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