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Tucker making transition at Cloverdale Schools
CLOVERDALE — Though she will be retiring as principal at Cloverdale Middle School at the end of the school year, Dawn Tucker will not be leaving the school community she has helped foster.
While she will still be involved to serve students, Tucker is looking to spend more time with her family. In essence, it is time for her to step back and see Cloverdale Schools continue to grow.
Cloverdale being where she grew up, Tucker graduated from Cloverdale High School in 1981. After earning her bachelor’s in elementary education at Indiana State University, she actually began her teaching career over in Clay City in 1985.
After taking a 10-year hiatus to raise her family, Tucker went to teach at Greencastle Middle School. While she earned a master’s in education from DePauw University, being a “late starter,” as she put it, Tucker eventually obtained her principal’s license also from ISU.
“I just kind of fell in love with the middle school group, because it’s just a fun age,” Tucker said about teaching at GMS. That foreshadowed her returning to Cloverdale in 2013 and teaching seventh-grade science.
After completing her internship for her principal’s license, Tucker stepped into her current role in 2014 when Stacey Baugh resigned as the elementary/middle school principal. Baugh became the assistant superintendent at Mill Creek Schools, while Brad Sandy filled the elementary role then.
“The kids are funny, they’re kind of quirky, but this is a time when you can really mold them,” Tucker said about the middle school environment. “They’re trying to find themselves, and I feel, as educators, we can have a big impact on the students.”
Tucker acknowledged that the adolescent stage is marked by drama and challenges. However, she said handling these in a firm, fair and consistent manner leads to successful outcomes. That outlook has guided her as both a teacher and an administrator.
“You never know when there’s one thing you say, one thing you do, that can have a lifelong impact on a student,” Tucker said. She related this back to those adolescent issues and helping them realize their potential going into high school, and then going out on their own.
Teaching students about responsibility and having a good work ethic is the overarching goal, Tucker provided. But she added that educators have to model both of those attitudes. They also need to let them know that they are there to support them.
That, Tucker said, is part of a triangulation between the student, parents and the educators. Part and parcel to this is the community supporting them and the schools.
“I’ve tried to instill into my staff to make sure that we catch kids doing good, not just, ‘We’re out to get you,’” Tucker related. “It’s trying to teach kids to be lifelong learners.”
From Tucker’s purview, Cloverdale Schools has worked to establish a culture of trust, high expectations and positivity on the whole. Ultimately, school for her is a place students and staff want to be at, and where listening to parents and staff promotes unity.
“I would have to say that I’m proud of the stability and culture of trust we’ve built here,” Tucker said. “I feel like, with everybody working together, we’ve done that. It’s not just been me, it’s everybody.”
And while she may have taken a circuitous route to be back home, Tucker notes that many staff members are Cloverdale graduates. In this way, things come full circle.
Tucker will continue to direct after-school programming at the Knoy Resource Center. But she looks forward to being more family-centered, especially as having a grandchild has been a “game changer.”
Current assistant principal Christian Frye is to succeed Tucker. With him having also taught at each school building and been “very loyal” to Cloverdale, Tucker expressed confidence that the middle school will be in good hands.
“I think, as an educator, I’m most proud to have played even a small role in someone’s life with that,” Tucker said about teaching. “That you can have an impact on someone else, that’s powerful.”