BES assistant principal promoted to principal

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By Zach Spicer | The Tribune

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BROWNSTOWN — While wrapping up his second year serving as assistant principal at Brownstown Elementary School, Marty Young received an unexpected opportunity.

Principal Chrystal Street applied to be the superintendent of her hometown school district, Crothersville Community School Corp., and recently was offered the job and accepted it.

That left the door open for Young to apply for the BES principal job. Initially, he said he asked himself if he was ready to take that next step.

Once he determined he was, he applied and was interviewed by a committee consisting of teachers, Superintendent Tim Taylor and Assistant Superintendent Jade Peters.

The next day, he was offered the job and accepted it.

“I feel that I was able to take the steps to show that I am ready,” Young said. “Especially that meant a lot to me that the teachers saw me, and when you get in the interview and you’re comfortable and the questions they are asking are principal questions and you feel good about your answers, you’re like, ‘I am ready.’”

During a school board meeting Tuesday night, Taylor said it was his

pleasure to recommend Young to be the next BES principal, and the board approved, drawing a round of applause from attendees.

“I’m just blessed that I’m able to stay where my roots are. I bleed red and black,” said Young, a 2004 graduate of Brownstown Central High School. “As an elementary principal, my plan is to stay there for a long, long period with my kids coming through, my wife works there. Not too many people get to say that they can have their kids in their school for six years, and I’m going to have that opportunity. That’s what I’m most excited about.”

He said he’s glad the school board has the confidence in him to allow him to continue the good things the school has going on.

“To hang out with 600 little kiddos every day and an awesome staff, I think it’s the best job in the world,” Young said, smiling.

After graduating from Brownstown, Young went to Franklin College, where he played basketball and earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education, graduating in 2008.

He then worked for Medora Community School Corp. as a sixth grade teacher and varsity boys basketball coach for three and a half years before returning to his hometown school corporation. Along the way, he earned a master’s degree in leadership and a license in administration.

His next nine years were at Brownstown Central Middle School, where he taught physical education, health and language arts before later becoming athletic director and dean of students. He also was a coach with the high school boys basketball program.

Working for two years as dean of students under Principal Doug McClure, Young said he grew even more.

Then taking on the assistant principal role at BES, he was able to learn from Street.

“Working with Doug for a couple years to see his leadership with how he led the school building, culture and day-to-day running the school, then moving to Chrystal, I’m elementary at heart because I was an elementary teacher to start with,” Young said. “She’s a wealth of knowledge. … My goal each day was to make her job easier, and by doing that and jumping right in, she pulled me right along, and I learned a lot of different things.”

With Street putting the school in a good place, Young said he is fortunate to step into a good situation.

He’s looking forward to digging into the school’s needs.

“Right now as assistant principal, I’m more staffing and working on substitute teachers and discipline and day in and day out working with the kids,” he said. “That something I want to continue is to have kids in my office, working with kids and trying to grow them, but it’s working more with staff, what their needs are.”

His ultimate goal each day will be to make the staff members’ lives easier.

“That’s what I want to do is to take things off those teachers if I can help with decision-making or just rolling my sleeves up and jumping in and helping them, whatever it is,” Young said.

“The big thing is we have a lot of good things going in the elementary school. I just want to be part of making things better. You can always do better, and you try to improve, improve, improve,” he said. “Chrystal has got us in a really good spot. It’s just continuing those things that she put in place and then incorporating my personal touches on how to get better.”

Young and Taylor are now in the process of finding his successor as assistant principal. Young said applications are being accepted through Monday, and then they will go through résumés before conducting interviews the last week of school. The plan is to have someone to recommend at the next school board meeting June 14.

During the recent board meeting, Taylor and the board congratulated Young for being selected as principal and congratulated Street on her new position and thanked her for everything she has done for Brownstown schools.

Street in turn offered her thanks.

“Thank you for everything that you’ve done for me as a principal here. You’ve given me tons of support,” she said. “I appreciate the community, the students. All of these people here are great, so thank you. I do know that Brownstown Elementary will be left in excellent hands with Mr. Young. It’s going to be tough for me not to be able to work with him next year, but thanks to Jade, Mr. Taylor, all of you. Thank you. I wish you the best.”

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