A Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. board member who has served for the past decade is now retiring from the board, saying it is “bittersweet” to be leaving.
Jeff Caldwell, who served in BCSC’s District 7 seat, was also the board president during the past year as the school corporation navigated the difficult decisions of in-school learning and the COVID-19 pandemic, and a campaign for a school referendum to increase teacher salaries and retention and school safety.
“I’ve had 10 years for my voice to be clearly heard as a member of the school board, sometimes as the president of the school board,” he said. “It’s time for new voices to be heard. They will bring different experiences and different opportunities to the table.”
He also noted that he hasn’t had a child in the school system since 2008, “so it’s time for new leadership.”
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Caldwell was first appointed to the board in 2011 to replace Pia O’Connor, who was moving to a county government position. Since then, he has served as board president in 2014, 2018 and 2020, as well as in different officer roles in other years.
His final school board meeting was on Dec. 14, and he kept communicating with BCSC since then. The school board president is typically a part of end-of-the-year conversations around planning for the next year, so he felt obligated to stick with that despite not being on the board in 2021. In the summer and fall of 2019, he decided not to run for re-election as he felt it was “time to move on.”
Caldwell said there were two reasons he became involved in the world of education.
The first is that it has always been something his family held in high regard. His parents didn’t have the chance to get additional education after high school and taught him to value education as a gateway to opportunity. Furthermore, his wife, Beth, taught elementary school for almost 20 years, his sister still teaches in Kentucky, and his sister-in-law used to be a principal — so education was always a topic of discussion at family gatherings.
The second reason? Being a school board member is just about the only elected position in Bartholomew County that a Democrat has a shot of winning, he said.
The year 2019 also marked Caldwell’s retirement from Cummins in December. He had worked with the company for 38 years, and his last role was executive director of North American truck marketing.
His first year of retirement wasn’t quite what he expected, he said. For one thing, he and his wife had planned a lot of travel in 2020. And for another, he hadn’t foreseen the massive changes that public education would have to go through in his final year on the school board due to the pandemic.
“When I kind of raised my hand and said, ‘More than happy to serve as president next year,’ we had no idea,” Caldwell said. “… The words ‘pandemic’ and ‘COVID-19’ and ‘virtual school’ were maybe science fiction concepts, but not something that any of us had thought a lot about.”
However, 2020 also brought the passage of BCSC’s referendum, which Caldwell counts as one of the achievements he’s most proud of from his time on the board.
In February, there had been conversations about whether or not the school corporation should back away from the referendum in light of COVID-19, he said.
“I was one of the voices that said, ‘Folks, if this was the right thing to ask for before we knew there was going to be a pandemic, then it’s still the right thing for us to be a part of,’” Caldwell recalled. “Because … we’re not trying to fix a short-term, near-term, one-off problem. We were going after a systemic change. Teachers’ compensation was just — embarrassingly, in my mind — low.”
He added that since he wasn’t running for re-election, he was fine with taking flak for the referendum if the community opposed it.
“For me, I was all in no matter what,” he said.
Caldwell said that another thing he’s proud of from his time on the board is helping hire Superintendent Jim Roberts.
“I had someone that mentioned to me, as I was coming on the board, that there’s really two important things you do as a school board member,” he said. “One is reflect the community in the policies that govern how we deliver education in Bartholomew County. And then the other one is hire a good superintendent, if and when the opportunity arises. And I feel like we have done both of those in the decade that I’ve served.”
Caldwell noted that the same thing that makes Bartholomew County strong also makes it hard to represent — its diversity.
“We really have a diverse community,” he said. “And that means, in an elected position, you always walk that fine line between ‘What do I personally think is the right thing to do, but what do I also think my community wants in the decision process?’”
He added that he didn’t believe in betraying his beliefs to get elected. However, once a person is in office, he said, they are obligated to consider different voices in the community — even one as varied as Bartholomew County.
In spite of the challenges of being on the school board, Caldwell said the best part of serving was the different people he worked with, including former superintendent John Quick, Roberts and people from different walks of life who have also served on the board.
“I’m looking forward to the next generation,” he added, noting that the board will soon welcome new members Todd Grimes (District 3) and Nicole Wheeldon (District 7).
Caldwell said that his parting words of advice for the school board is the same “go-to” advice he’d give anyone: “God gave you two ears and one mouth for a reason. So if you’re not listening as least twice as much as you’re talking, you’re probably missing the boat there.”
Listening is an important part of being on the board, he said, and that includes listening to the community, to school corporation leaders and to the students themselves.
Caldwell said that while he’s leaving the school board, he still plans to be involved in the community.
“Columbus, Indiana has adopted me, and it is my home,” he said. “And I don’t see public service as something extraordinary. To me, it should be part of the expectation — if and when you get the opportunity to serve, you should do that. And I don’t think it’s one of those things you ought to plan to retire from.”
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Age: 62
City of residence: Columbus
Education: B.S. from Murray State University, MBA from Indiana University.
Career overview: Retired Dec. 31, 2019 after 38 years with Cummins, Inc.; last role was executive director of North American Truck Marketing.
Public offices sought: BCSC school board, Bartholomew County Council At-Large 2000.
Years as school board president: 2014, 2018 and 2020.
Community involvement and associations: Volunteer for numerous civic and church affiliated groups. On the board of directors for BHI Senior Living, serves on the Region Board of American Baptist Churches – Indiana/Kentucky and is a member at First Baptist Church and president of the church council. Served on boards of CERAland and Otter Creek Golf Club and served as BCSC appointee to the Columbus Redevelopment Commission.
Family: Married to Beth for 39 years. They have two grown children and two grandchildren, with third on the way in March.
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Outgoing school board members James Persinger (District 3) and Jeff Caldwell (District 7) were honored at the board’s Dec. 14 meeting. Multiple board members expressed gratitude for both men’s service and contributions to the board, as did Superintendent Jim Roberts.
Roberts presented Persinger and Caldwell with two gifts: architectural books (from the Bartholomew Consolidated School Foundation) and plaques recognizing their years of service. Caldwell received his gifts in person, whereas Persinger (who served on the board for four years) attended the meeting virtually.
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