BROWNSBURG, Ind. — Just as students across central Indiana gear up for summer break, staff at Brownsburg Community School Corporation are already looking ahead to the fall.
The district is set to open its eighth elementary school in the coming months.
"I've had a lot of first days of school," Principal Tim Cooper said, "and I don't think I've ever had a feeling like this of what that's going to be like."
Cooper is heading into his 20th year in education, spending his last three years as assistant principal at White Lick Elementary.
Now at Crossroads Elementary, Cooper said construction is on track.
"Most of the classrooms have been 'final cleaned' already and are ready for furniture that is going to start arriving on June 5," Cooper said.
Then, teachers are scheduled to move in at the beginning of July.
"There is just a level of excitement right now about starting something new and something fresh," Cooper said.
Cooper estimates Crossroads will be home to about 650 students next year, thanks to a redistricting plan.
"We started that process in early fall," Cooper said.
School leaders said more than 100 parents and school staff decided on a redistricting plan to move students, kindergarten through fifth grade, into a new school.
The school board approved the plan in January, according to Cooper.
As for teachers, Cooper said Crossroads is fully staffed, even in the midst of a teacher shortage.
"It's been a really busy hiring season, as far as filling all of our support staff positions," Cooper said. "It has been a couple months where we've done a lot of interviews."
As of May 25, there are close to 2,100 open teaching jobs across the state, according to the Indiana Department of Education.
Teachers tell 13News' Verify team they are burning out for two main reasons: being overworked and underpaid.
In Brownsburg, however, Cooper said teachers are moving to and staying in town.
"Honestly, I think it is just the multiple levels of support that we provide teachers across the district," Cooper said. "We put things in place to allow teachers to teach, and they are amazing at that."
Cooper said, for the Bulldogs, that starts during the interview process.
"In Brownsburg, we have kind of a unique interviewing process," Cooper said. "All eight elementary principals interview as a team when we are interviewing teaching candidates because we want to feel like any teacher that we bring on board, we are happy to have in any building in Brownsburg."
According to the IDOE, the system appears to be working.
Brownsburg is one of the highest performing districts in the state, according to the IDOE. All of the corporation's schools received an "A" from the state.
"They can just connect with their kids and teach, and we've seen what that can do for teachers and for kids," Cooper said.
To ease students into the transition of a new school, Cooper spent months visiting Brownsburg students who will move to Crossroads this fall.
Principal visits with students ahead of Brownsburg elementary school opening
"It was just a great opportunity to get to know the kids," Cooper said. "I let them ask me any questions they wanted to ask me about the school or myself."
The first day at Crossroads Elementary is set for Aug. 2, 2023.