New Cloverdale school board member looks ahead

Monday, November 15, 2010

CLOVERDALE -- Brian Asbury was recently elected to the Cloverdale school board. Though he won't take office for around eight months, he recently attended a Cloverdale school board meeting to better understand what the board does.

"It's a process and I went to gather information more than anything," Asbury said. "I wanted to see how it works.

"I don't want to go in there as green as I am now," he said.

Asbury said he ran for the board because he's personally invested in the schools.

"I mainly ran because I have three kids in the system," Asbury said. "I just thought I could do more good than I can by just sitting on the sidelines, so I thought I'd get involved."

Asbury said he hopes to see more focus placed on the Advanced Placement classes offered by the school.

"We offer them, but I'm not certain we're getting all the bang for our buck we could with them," he said.

Asbury said he hoped to speak with the current board regarding the football coach situation.

"The coach we just let go wasn't really a good fit for us," Asbury said. Our school board members, I know they mean well, but only one of them has a kid in the system."

Asbury said he wants a hiring process for the next coach that involves more of the community.

"Basically I'm going to ask that they form a committee and involve the people who are involved in the program all the way down to be part of the hiring process," Asbury said. "That's to make sure that the next guy we hire is the right fit for us and our kids. That guy is a role model for our kids and the last guy we had really wasn't what we're looking for."

Asbury said he looks forward to working with the school board and adapting to the role he will be taking over.

"It's all new to me, but it's a challenge I look forward to," Asbury said.

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  • Interesting platform. The needs are coaching and advanced placement? I actually had a kid make it all the way through the system, and he and his group were the AP kids. They did fine, with many opportunities, and in college now. At last check, being all sophomores in their various universities, they were all well prepared and doing fine. I am not sure what bang for the buck we are hoping for?

    I have a second child who is more challenged by school, and I am much more worried about his future. He would be below the the average student, like half of all the kids in the system are and it's those kids who we need to spend the time with, so that the average is higher for those that are hovering 20% above average on down and they too can be successful. My scholastically gifted child was never going to have trouble. So far I am pleased with what the school system has done with both kids. Perhaps the only thing that might be bolstered for the gifted kids college resumes is the outside interests and the opportunity for volunteerism, which is the intangibles that sets gifted kids apart from each other.

    As for sports, I could really care less how the football team does. Do I want sports offered? Absolutely. Both kids of mine play several and always have. The best school in the Big Ten has the worst sports teams.. siting Northwestern. It's down the list of importance as it should be. I hope that personal interests in the school, changes over time for this board member.

    -- Posted by Pojoe on Mon, Nov 15, 2010, at 8:44 AM
  • I wish he had said these things before the election.

    -- Posted by South of 40 on Mon, Nov 15, 2010, at 7:38 PM
  • Perhaps attending a school board meeting BEFORE running for the office would be a decent idea. I guess today's busy schedules don't afford us such luxuries.

    -- Posted by Balding Eagle on Mon, Nov 15, 2010, at 9:51 PM
  • yea, he is a youth coach at Cloverdale unfortunately. Maybe he could work on improving the standards and guidelines for who gets to coach our children. That would be a joke just as it is now!

    -- Posted by indianaresident on Tue, Nov 16, 2010, at 10:18 AM
  • This is the same school board that has been there since he has gone to school. Helping the academic side of things would've been leaving him out of the loop, hence the focus on football. What about bullying? Lack of security for the fans at his football games. My kid went to a game, total access to anywhere on the ball diamond they wanted to go. He has a daughter there, would he want her unattended in that area for a game? I think he has no clue what he has gotten himself into, but maybe someone of his age will be of some good. Forget all the blackmail that anyone who knows him has on him, I'm just sayin....

    -- Posted by seriousely on Tue, Nov 16, 2010, at 9:59 PM
  • i didn't vote for him because i do know him. i don't think the people that did vote him in know what they have gotten themselves into....

    -- Posted by indianaresident on Wed, Nov 17, 2010, at 8:36 AM
  • as for academics, i have two children that graduated from cloverdale in 1999 and 2004 with academic and athletic honors, one went on to graduate with honors at Depauw U., the other with honors at I.U. I currently have a child in C.H.S. and could'nt be more proud of his academic and athletic accomplishments. After reading all the negative comments about Cloverdale schools,i"m starting to think your children must attend another school system with the same name, ours is located in putnam county, indiana. Go Clovers!!!!!!!

    -- Posted by icareclovers on Wed, Nov 17, 2010, at 11:13 AM
  • May i mention Chad Collins (pro golfer), Chad Tucker (pro basketball), who will always be missed, Chase Haltom (free ed. at Wabash College ). cloverdale athletics played a hugh role in my son's free education at Depauw. I'm know there are many more positive stories that can be told about Cloverdale schools since i have lived here for 24 years. As for our youth sports, i know the very few people who sacrifice their free time to organize these activities for your children, and it also pains them to allow some of the adults working with our children (future school boardmember ejection from a L.L. football) but someone has to do it, As the old saying goes , Evil exists because good people do nothing. Go Clovers!!!!!

    -- Posted by icareclovers on Wed, Nov 17, 2010, at 11:36 AM
  • Please remember, Mr Asbury is just one vote on our school board!

    -- Posted by icareclovers on Wed, Nov 17, 2010, at 11:40 AM
  • I believe it was announced at the OCT.2010 board meeting that our school corp., as a whole did pass AYP, although those minutes haven't been posted to the corp. website yet. I encourage everyone to visit cloverdale's school website, all monthly board minutes are posted. If your family has spent as many hours as you say than our families know each other well, so from my family to yours...THANK YOU!!! GO CLOVERS!!

    -- Posted by icareclovers on Wed, Nov 17, 2010, at 1:33 PM
  • This topic concerns me. Don't get me wrong, I commend Mr. Asbury for running in the election but I just wish he would've done his homework more than once before this article ran.

    With that being said, I too was born and raised in Cloverdale and my children are 4th generation to attend Cloverdale schools. I'm very concerned with Mr. Asbury's view on academics. I have one child in the middle school and one child in the elem. My middle school-er is in all advanced classes, always makes the honor roll. This child is the one that I'm not worried about. My other child is the one that concerns me. This child has a learning disability that so far in my child's schooling at Cloverdale has been handled well. I think the concentration needs to be on the children that are struggling rather than putting even more pressure on the ones that are not.

    As far as football, I think it's great that Mr.Asbury want to do things to help the Football Dept. but lets not concentrate on just one sport, what about the winning basketball teams back in the 80's, or the many, many sectional,regional and individual state championships in wrestling,what happened to all them. And I believe if my memory service me correct Mr. Asbury was a member of the wrestling team so why just football?

    As far as the post about getting online to check the school board minutes, I think it's time for parents to go to the meeting and get involved in the school system not just read what happened on line at a later dated when nothing can be done.

    I do know Mr. Asbury and have for many years and I believe he has good intentions. He's got 8 months before he takes his position on the board, I hope that he does do what he says and continues to do his homework. I know that if he does he could be a valuable asset to our school corporation for many years to come.

    -- Posted by clovermom76 on Wed, Nov 17, 2010, at 5:11 PM
  • First off, this is a short article touching on only a couple of topics. I have known Brian for several years through school related activities and sports.

    Over the years Brian and I have had many dicussions about the school and community. He has expressed opinions on many topics and has alot of positive things to say about our schools as well as expressing valide concerns. I think everyone can agree in order to move forward changes must be made one way or another.

    Academics are obviously supposed to be the top priority in our schools, but when you have people on the board who are not directly involved with the school, whose children no longer attend the school, they are out of touch of whats going on.

    Over the past 10 years I have worked at the school, volunteered endless hours for fundraising and boosters, and help support children from ALL walks of life in this community.

    One problem I have seen is the system is the fact that alot of these children are being left behind because they dont "fit in" with Cloverdale society,or dont come from a 4th genreation family here.

    Most of the teachers are doing their best to have productive and educating classes, but they can only work within the guidelines and opinions that the school allows.

    I have personally seen teachers and coaches unable to express their concerns and opinions because certain board members or "important" people in the community wouldnt like it and they feel that it would jepordize their jobs.

    Sports is also an obvious concern for several reasons. First it is a very public way that our school is represented, so we want to make sure that the people representing our schools is of the highest standard and behaves in an appropriate manner in all aspects of the job.

    Secondly, sports can be a motivation for those who may not do so well academically to keep their grades up so they can participate in sports.

    Thirdly, if you have a coach willing to give ALL kids an equal opportunity to particpate and excel, ( and I mean ALL students not just those who come from the right family or are "popular")it can open a childs eyes to new opportunities and give them confidence to succeed.

    Academically, I feel there needs to be improvement across the board. Most of the graduates I have spoken to over the years feel like they werent prepared for college and struggled when they got there to try and catch up.

    Also, students that have moved and attended new schools have found that although they may have done well at Cloverdale, when they started the new school found the work to be more challenging and felt that they were behind.

    Bottom line is, dont be so quick to judge someone on a few lines written in an article or who has a different opinion.

    I say kudos to Brian and anyone else willing to step up and be actively involved, and willing to take the heat when their opinion isnt the most popular.

    -- Posted by daring2Bme on Sun, Nov 28, 2010, at 7:11 AM
  • Why don't you all just shut up and see what he has to offer the school. WOW he got kicked out of a youth football game but you have teachers not doing their jobs at school.. I have seen first hand what our wonderful knoy program is doing at the middle school. SO Asbury at least you do care about the kids and want to make a change and try to better our schools.

    SO for you na sayers why don't you give him a chance first before you complain. Or better yet why didnt you run for school board?

    -- Posted by Deez35 on Sun, Nov 28, 2010, at 11:06 PM
  • My family is new to Cloverdale, and I have three kids in the Cloverdale school system. When I first moved here I wanted to inquire about the youth football program and got nothing but support from Mr. Asbury, as well as many others in the community. Not just for sports, but FFA, and church organizations. I couldn't have moved to a better place! My kids are all excelling in both academics and sports. So don't be so quick to bash, and lets see what he has to offer. At least he is willing to make the effort!

    -- Posted by newtocloverdale09 on Mon, Nov 29, 2010, at 10:27 PM
  • Having grown up with asbury i can say i'm very proud of the person he his today, not saying he was bad when we were in school but if you have known him since we were kids u know what im sayin. His 3 kids are his life and all 3 of them are honor roll or better, volunteer in their community and active in athletics. They speak of schools like NOTRE DAME, PENN ST, WEST POINT, ROSE-HULMAN and PURDUE. He does go over the top sometimes coaching and he's the first to admit he's over the top at times. He coaches though cuz he dont want some dumbass coaching the kids bad habits and telling them it's ok to lose, not to mention no one else steps up to coach every year. I voted for him cuz i agree there needs to be more willingness and acceptance from the leadership to allow parents to get more involved and have a say in things. He knows that alot of people have good ideas and believes for whatever reason dont get heard. He will try his best to make us better(for better or worse he's competitive at everything) and i look forward to see how things go....

    -- Posted by cloverfromafar on Thu, Dec 2, 2010, at 1:02 PM
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