FORTVILLE – Ashley Gustin just might be the busiest school principal without an actual school.
The longtime educator and administrator was brought on board by the Mt. Vernon school corporation July 8 to lead the new Mt. Vernon Intermediate School, which will open to fifth and sixth graders next year.
The newly developed middle school will take over the current Fortville Elementary School building as the elementary school moves into a new building across the street.
This school year, Gustin has settled into an office at the elementary school to get to know her future students and staff as she prepares for next year.
“Honestly, I am forever thankful to have a full year to plan,” she said. “I am thankful to be out meeting the teachers, starting teacher meetings and meeting the fourth- and fifth-grade students. I’m really excited to get the input back from all of them and see this whole process come to life.”
Gustin has been meeting with teachers to address any questions or concerns they have about the transition to middle school, and building on that feedback to prepare for next year.
“I also have some surveys going out to fourth- and fifth-grade students … because they have great ideas too,” she said.
As the next school year draws closer, Gustin will be busy hiring a new assistant principal, secretaries, counselors, custodians and other staff to support the new middle school.
“She has a lot of work to do,” said Maria Bond, the district’s community relations director, adding that the school board strategically hired an intermediate school principal a full year before the doors opened.
Superintendent Jack Parker has said Gustin was hired for a number of reasons, including her experience opening a new intermediate school for fifth- and sixth-graders at the Anderson Community School Corp., serving as principal.
The former teacher said she has a soft spot for fifth- and sixth grade-students.
“I really feel like 5th/6th is my niche,” she said.
“They’re still young enough to watch cartoons, and they still really thrive on the relationships they have with the adults at school, but they’re also mature enough that they’re entering the next phase of life when they’re presented with some choices. They understand the world around them,” she said.
A graduate of Pendleton High School, Gustin earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Ball State University before returning to her home school district – the South Madison Community School Corp. – to teach second-, fifth- and sixth-graders.
She then left to open the new Anderson Intermediate School.
Gustin later returned to the South Madison schools to serve as assistant principal at Pendleton Heights Middle School for three years before transitioning to Mt. Vernon this year.
She first familiarized herself with Mt. Vernon schools while researching how other districts benefit from utilizing Professional Learning Communities, which focuses on small group collaboration among educators to enhance teaching and improve students’ academic performance.
“We were looking for model schools … and I was drawn to the things happening at Mt. Vernon,” she said.
Between the things she observed and positive feedback she got from those in her professional circle, Gustin found that Mt. Vernon’s approach fit her vision as an administrator.
“I like the systems and structures, but on top of that it really is people first … They really pour into the people who work here,” she said.
She’s also been impressed by her fellow administrators.
“I feel like the collaborative nature when our administrative team is together is really profound. It really is a talented, smart group of people who are very forward thinking,” she said.
It’s that forward thinking approach that led the Mt. Vernon Schools to reintroduce a middle school format into the school system. The move will take the district from a three-tier to a four-tier system, with elementary school for students in grades K-4, intermediate school for grades 5-6, middle school for grades 7-8 and high school for grades 9-12.
Currently the district’s elementaries serve students in grades K-5 while students in grades 6-8 attend Mt. Vernon Middle School before moving on to the high school.
Gustin said she’s seen the benefits of a four-tier system first hand.
Having worked in a traditional K-6 school format, then moving up to a secondary administration position, she saw incoming seventh graders struggle with transitioning straight from elementary school into a new school that required switching teachers and classrooms, and managing much more responsibility.
Gustin said putting fifth- and sixth-graders under one roof in intermediate school – in which students have multiple classrooms with multiple teachers – can “bridge the gap” and provide a much needed transition period to help them get acclimated to the change.
Bond said the district’s move to a four-tiers system is a direct result of ongoing growth and community feedback gathered in 2019 and 2020.
“The community desired an intermediate school and for us to go back to having fifth and sixth graders here,” said Bond, adding that sixth graders will still be allowed to participate in some middle school sports.
School enrollment has increased exponentially over the past six years, from 4,130 in 2018 to 4,660 in 2023.
Parker estimates this year’s enrollment – which will be officially recorded in October – will be around 4,980.
Gustin is happy to still have 11 months to prepare for opening the intermediate school at the start of next school year.
“My hope is to have as many things in place as possible before Spring Break,” she said.
