BROWNSTOWN
At one point during her tenure, Jill Miller was the sole guidance counselor to Brownstown Elementary School’s 750 students.
While that number has decreased some, she still has been the go-to person for students in need and also staff members.
She retired at the end of the recently completed 2020-21 school year, but when the new school year starts in August, there will be two counselors at BES.
The Brownstown Central Community School Corp. board of school trustees approved the hirings of Denise Stevens and Molly Davis.
They plan to split up Miller’s lengthy list of duties, which includes social and emotional needs of students, classroom lessons, parent meetings, supporting and collaborating with teachers and community connections.
Plus, she also operated a Bucket Filler kindness recognition program, was the student council adviser and helped with awards programs, distribution of food, shoes and socks, recycling, Stuff the Bus and more.
“It definitely is a plus and so positive for our school because just with the way things are now, the needs are so great that I feel like a lot of times, what I’ve been doing is just putting a Band-Aid on it. It’s definitely been needed for quite awhile,” Miller said of having more than one counselor. “We’ve got two wonderful people that are just going to be great and awesome.”
Miller wrapped up an 18-year career at BES.
After graduating from college, she began working with the Division of Family and Children and spent a majority of her time in Child Protective Services.
When she left there, she worked as a family support specialist for Quinco for five years. Her last two years were spent at BES as a case manager for students and families.
In 2003, the school’s counselor, Terrye Davidson, was moving to Brownstown Central Middle School, and she encouraged Miller to get a master’s degree in school counseling. She started at BES on an emergency license while working toward her master’s.
“I wasn’t just working with this particular student and family at a time like I was with Quinco or Child Protective Services. I was working with all of the kids in the building, so it was kind of like they all became my kids with whatever they needed,” Miller said of the adjustment she had to make.
“I was not on the side of so much making all of those home visits and providing all of that type of service,” she said. “I was now making referrals for those services.”
She changed to what she referred to as “brief counseling.”
“You meet with a student, you talk with them about whatever their need is, you come up with a plan and you send them back out and then monitor that,” Miller said. “There’s also the other side of classroom lessons and standards that you have to provide over the whole building, and so with a building this size, that takes a lot of time, too.”
Even though her job changed, Miller still was able to help kids and families.
“What I have personally gotten out of it, which I feel like has been with every job that I have had, is that feeling that I am doing something to help someone else,” she said. “That is a need that I need to fulfill for myself. That’s probably the biggest bonus of this job.”
Miller liked helping kids figure out what they want to be when they grow up and keeping in touch with them after they leave the school to ensure they find a good job.
“The kids can say they all now know the difference is not financially. The difference is it’s a job that makes you happy that you want to go to and do your best job at because you like it,” she said. “That’s what I’ve gotten out of this, too. There’s this saying ‘If you’re having fun at your job, it will never feel like work, it will not feel like a job.’ That’s probably what I’ve gotten the most out of it.”
While she said it was a heart-wrenching decision to retire, Miller has confidence in the two women taking her place.
Stevens graduated from Crothersville High School and then Purdue University, where she earned a degree in child development and family studies.
She worked at Cornerstone Autism Center in Edinburgh for five years but then decided she wanted to be closer to home, so she landed the director job at St. Peter’s Lutheran Child Care Ministry in Brownstown in 2019.
“I was still able to work with children and their parents as well as the community and then continue my education,” said Stevens, who plans to finish her master’s degree in school counseling from Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis in December.
Her dream goal has been to become a school counselor, and she was able to do her practicum and internship with Miller this past school year before applying for the job opening.
“I’ve been able to observe some of Jill’s work, and it’s in the community I live in,” she said. “I don’t plan on going anywhere because I love this community, so I think it was a little more special than just a school counseling job opening. That’s what I’ve told people. I would love to see myself be here for the next 30 years.”
Davis graduated from Silver Creek High School and then Indiana University Southeast, completing her master’s degree in school counseling in May 2020.
She was teaching preschool at Growing Minds in her hometown of Sellersburg when she had to take maternity leave.
She said it was hard to find elementary counselor jobs in her area, so she expanded her search and came across the opening at BES. A week after interviewing for the job, she was offered the position.
“Oh, I cried,” she said. “This is my dream job, and it’s everything I wanted. The fact that I actually got it, I was of the mindset that ‘I have a kid now, I’m not going to be able to find it,’ and it just happened. Everybody has been so nice so far and really welcoming.”
Now, Stevens and Davis are working together to split up the duties and bounce ideas off of each other so they are ready for the new school year.
“I told them I’m just a phone call away should they have questions,” Miller said. “I’m not leaving the community. I’m just leaving the building.”