Mike Wolanin | The Republic Former Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. superintendent John Quick poses for a photo with pair of Columbus North and Columbus East themed Converse Chuck Taylor shoes and about a dozen IHSAA state championship rings at his home in Columbus, Ind., Monday, Jan. 30, 2023. Quick has been selected as an inductee into the BCSC Hall of Fame this year.
Growing up in the small town of Winslow, John Quick had two basic career options — teacher or coal miner. Since school was an area where he excelled and felt like he could make a difference, he chose the former.
Now, after 40 years in public education — including serving as superintendent for the Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. from 2003 to 2016 — Quick has been inducted into the district’s Education Hall of Fame along with Columbus East special education teacher Peggy Myers.
This honor is given to teachers, former teachers or administrators who have made “a noteworthy and extraordinary employment contribution to the Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. which merits recognition for excellence.” Both inductees were honored at Monday’s school board meeting and presented with plaques that feature commendations from their respective letters of nomination.
According to Superintendent Jim Roberts, Quick’s plaque included praise for his involvement in the community, support for students and families, leadership, collaboration and “far-reaching influence in the field of education.”
“And perhaps the most difficult thing for me, trying to follow Dr. Quick, is Dr. Quick’s Quick-isms,” said Roberts. “Things like ‘Just keep showing up,’ and ‘I can help you get to the plate, but you have to hit your own home run.’ ”
“He’s always a little intimidating, just because … you’ve heard ‘Walk softly, carry a big stick,’” said former school board member Kathy Dayhoff-Dwyer. “Well, he doesn’t have the big stick, but he always has words and stories.”
Quick’s career included five years as an elementary school teacher, 17 years as a principal, five years as an assistant superintendent and 13 years as superintendent. Quick worked in BCSC for 25 years altogether; before that, he worked with the Northeast School Corp. in Sullivan County.
For Quick, the best part of being superintendent was the relationships with students and staff.
“The last principal I appointed — well, the board of course approved, but I recommended to the board — in 2016 actually was a second grade student at Taylorsville when I came in ‘91,” he said. “So I think that’s acknowledging talent pretty early.”
The most challenging part, on the other hand, was “being a change agent.”
For instance, the school corporation attempted referendums on Pre-K funding in 2012 and 2014, which both failed. Quick said that while probably three-quarters of the community supported Pre-K, not everyone was willing to pay for it.
“You don’t just fight the fights you can win,” he said. “You fight the fights that need fought.”
Despite the outcome of the local referendums, Quick feels that the school corporation “helped move the needle” and noted they now have a standalone Pre-K building. He added that conversations are now taking place around the state on the need for universal Pre-K.
Another memory he looked back on was being able to open the Columbus Signature Academy pathway in 2008, even amid a major recession and local flooding. He was also pleased that under his tenure, the school corporation never laid off employees or had a hiring freeze.
“You sit on the sidelines for 27 years, trying to figure out what you would do if you were school superintendent, and then you try not to make those same mistakes and so forth,” said Quick. “I made about every mistake in the business, probably, but I kind of pride myself on not making it more than once, if I could keep from it.”
He stepped down in 2016, but even after retiring, he continued working with Ball State University for a time, continuing supervision and recruitment efforts with their principal internship program that had started during his time as superintendent. He estimated that 15 of his former interns are now BCSC administrators, including some who were already working in the district and others who migrated there.
He’s also used his retirement to travel and done quite a bit of that on horseback, boasting that he’s ridden his horse “from the Continental Divide to the Virginia Highlands and everywhere in between.”
Quick said that being inducted into the BCSC Hall of Fame is a humbling experience and that there are many people who deserve the honor, including Myers.
“Reading those letters, I feel a little bit like Tom Sawyer watching his own eulogies,” he said.
