Decatur County Community Schools

Students First

Manufacturing Partnerships and a Clear Student-Centered Philosophy Drive Academic Excellence Despite Statewide Budget Cuts.

In a rural Indiana county where farming and manufacturing drives the economy and tradition shapes values, one simple principle guides every decision at Decatur County Community Schools: students first. This isn’t corporate speak for Dr. Jarrod Burns, the district’s superintendent. “Every decision from something financial to what we’re going to teach in a classroom to the structure of a day is students first.” Burns explains.

The philosophy permeates the entire organization, from Burns’s office to the custodial staff. When the school board faces tough choices or administrators debate major changes, they apply the same lens. “We are mindful of the other individuals, but first and foremost is what is best for students. And then we figure everything else out from there,” Burns says. In an educational landscape where Indiana’s per-student funding has declined by $574 compared to 2007 levels, such clarity of purpose becomes even more critical.

Angel Hocker, the district’s Director of Learning, sees this student-centered approach play out daily across the corporation’s four schools. The district serves approximately 26,400 residents in Decatur County, where the median household income of $74,228 exceeds state averages, yet leadership knows that economic stability doesn’t guarantee educational success without intentional focus on student outcomes.

Securing Academic Excellence in Rural Indiana

Rural schools across America face mounting pressures, with more than half of districts enrolling fewer than 2,000 students experiencing declining enrollment over the past decade. Yet Decatur County Community Schools represents a powerful counter-narrative, achieving recognition that places it among Indiana’s educational elite. The district’s performance metrics tell a story of sustained excellence that defies conventional assumptions about small-town schooling.

“South Decatur High School for three consecutive years is a US News top school in the state of Indiana. North Decatur High School has been the same for the last three to four years,” Burns reports. “Last year they were ranked 24th in the state, the 24th ranked high school in the state of Indiana.” Both high schools have earned this prestigious recognition while serving a student population that could easily get lost in larger urban districts.

Burns details a comprehensive portfolio of achievements: “Our elementaries have had extremely high I-Read scores and have been recognized by the state as being high performing schools, meeting that benchmark. All four schools are HRS level three.” The HRS designation refers to High Reliability Schools under the Marzano framework, indicating guaranteed viable curriculum delivery in every classroom.

Additional accolades continue to accumulate. “We’ve had some AP honor awards, FAFSA completion rates, I-Learn scores have been very high,” Burns explains. “North Elementary earned some designation for that as well. North High is an early college recognized high school in the state of Indiana; South Elementary and North High had been recognized as STEM certified schools by the Department of Education.” In Indiana’s competitive educational landscape, where rural schools receive proportionally less state funding, such comprehensive recognition across all grade levels highlights exceptional organizational achievement.

Innovative Career Pathways, From Biomedical Science to Cybersecurity

In today’s world, where traditional career boundaries blur and technical skills command premium wages, forward-thinking school districts are reimagining vocational education. Decatur County Community Schools has positioned itself at the forefront of this transformation, creating specialized learning environments that mirror real-world professional settings.

“We completed our biomedical science center maybe a year or two before that. And it is actually a hospital wing where the kids go in and learn. We also do a CNA program out of that biomedical science center,” Hocker explains. The facility simulates and replicates healthcare environments, providing students with authentic clinical experiences that prepare them for immediate entry into Indiana’s robust healthcare sector.

On the opposite end of the county, technology takes center stage. “We have the cybersecurity pathway, we have the engineering pathway and the computer science pathway that are all stemmed out of the cybersecurity lab,” Hocker notes. The cybersecurity center, established three to four years ago, addresses critical workforce needs in an increasingly digital economy where cybersecurity professionals command salaries well above regional averages.

The district’s geographic structure creates unique opportunities for comprehensive exposure. “We ship kids back and forth so that kids at North Decatur can take the biomed pathway at South or vice versa,” Hocker says. Meanwhile, manufacturing education has found its place through North High’s manufacturing academy, launched two years ago to connect with the region’s industrial base. Given that manufacturing employs 4,134 people in Greensburg alone, the largest employment sector in the area, these partnerships align directly with local economic realities and career opportunities.

Technology Integration and Rural Connectivity Challenges

Digital equity remains one of the most persistent challenges facing rural education, where geographic isolation can create technological divides similar socioeconomic disparities. While urban districts grapple with device management and platform selection, rural schools confront the more fundamental issue of basic internet access. Decatur County Community Schools has embraced comprehensive technology integration while simultaneously addressing the connectivity gaps that could leave students behind.

“We have been one-to-one for a long time now. At the elementary level, most students have iPads, except for some upper grades. At South Decatur, grades four, five, and six have Chromebooks, along with both high schools,” Hocker explains. The district’s device strategy balances educational effectiveness with practical testing requirements, ensuring students can seamlessly transition between learning and assessment platforms.

Yet technology implementation means little without reliable internet access. Burns identifies this as the district’s primary obstacle: “I would say the biggest challenge being in a rural community is getting access to the internet.” The community has mobilized multiple solutions over Burns’s eight-year tenure. “We’ve got the beginnings of laying some fiber in some of the outer parts of the county outside of the city of Greensburg. We have a couple of companies that have come through and have installed towers that they’re pinging signals off of.”

For the remaining disconnected households, approximately five to six percent, the district adapts its approach. “We try working with them and in times of having to do e-learning or virtual school, giving them hotspots and finding ways to get them accessible as well,” Burns says. The district also adjusts deadlines and delivery methods to ensure no student falls behind due to connectivity limitations, recognizing that rural education requires flexibility alongside innovation.

Community Partnerships with Local Industry

Successful workforce development requires authentic connections between education and industry that create pathways from learning to earning. In regions where manufacturing forms the economic backbone, these partnerships become essential bridges that transform theoretical knowledge into practical skills. Decatur County Community Schools has cultivated relationships with major employers, creating integrated programs where students contribute real value while developing professional competencies.

The district’s healthcare partnerships exemplify this approach. “We have a great connection with our local hospital and a couple of the area nursing homes, and that’s where we send students just as interns to our local hospital. But then the nursing homes, our CNA and biomedical program, those kids go in and they work in those facilities and get the experience that way,” Hocker explains.

Manufacturing partnerships leverage the region’s industrial strength, where companies like Honda Manufacturing, Delta Faucet, and Valeo Engine Cooling employ thousands of workers. “We’ve built really strong relationships with Honda Manufacturing, Delta, Nipro, Batesville Tool & Die, and we’re just developing one with Resonac,” Hocker notes. The manufacturing academy operates through a structured board that includes community leaders: “We have a board that consists of the mayor, the Decatur County Community Foundation, the Economic Development Corporation, and various other employers and lawyers and different entities within the community.”

The program’s value proposition is clear and immediate. “They actually work in those facilities as a senior, and then they get first choice at a job after graduation if they do well,” Hocker says. With manufacturing salaries in the region ranging from $41,000 to $96,000 annually, these partnerships create direct pathways to middle-class careers.

Safety, Early Learning, and Family Culture

Modern school districts must balance multiple priorities that create environments where safety, early childhood development, and community culture intersect to support student success. The challenge intensifies in rural communities where schools often serve as anchors for entire regions, carrying responsibilities that urban districts might distribute across multiple institutions. Decatur County Community Schools has invested strategically across these interconnected areas, recognizing that comprehensive student support requires attention to physical security, developmental readiness, and cultural belonging.

Security investments align with contemporary realities. “We have spent quite a bit. We have in the last three years upgraded our entire camera system where we can track students based upon clothing, colors, descriptions, anything like that in the entire corporation within seconds,” Burns explains. The district employs multiple security factors: “Our Raptor sign-in system allows us to check people’s backgrounds as they’re entering into the buildings. We’ve installed window cling on all of the windows of our elementaries and in our junior and senior high schools.”

Early learning initiatives address foundational needs. “A couple of years ago on the south end of the county, we always had a developmental delay preschool, but we started an open preschool for the community as well,” Hocker notes. “North Decatur Elementary is just beginning their preschool program this year, so they will also have a preschool class.”

The district’s family atmosphere distinguishes it from larger systems. When asked to describe the school district’s unique qualities, Hocker responds: “By far what they felt was that it was more of a family: the teachers are a family, the communities are families, and everybody gives 110% to make sure that kids succeed in whatever avenues that they choose to go through.”

Overcoming Financial Pressures and Future Sustainability

Public education typically faces unprecedented fiscal challenges such as demographic shifts, policy changes, and economic pressures converge to strain traditional funding models. Indiana’s rural districts confront particularly acute difficulties, with state funding formulas that favor enrollment growth while many small communities experience population decline. Against this backdrop, high-performing districts like Decatur County Community Schools must find a way to maintain excellence and manage increasingly constrained resources.

Burns identifies the core challenge facing his district over the next 24 months. “Everything that we’re dealing with right now is dealing with the financial difficulties of dealing with the legislature and our state. Indiana is really shifting a lot of its focus and funding toward charters and private schools.” The state’s recent policy changes compound these pressures. “They just did a massive property tax cut throughout the state. And as a homeowner, that’s awesome. As someone who tries to run a school corporation and probably 55 to 60% of our entire budget comes from property taxes, it’s what drives our operations, our transportation, basically any human being and anything in a school that’s not a teacher, they just had a massive cut to that.”

The district faces difficult conversations ahead. “We’re hoping not to make any major changes in programming or offering any types of programming, but quite honestly, the position that we’re being put in, anything will be on the table,” Burns acknowledges. Despite these challenges, the district maintains its student-first philosophy. “While I say that, we will continue to monitor what is best for kids and programs and graduation changes and pathways, and we still want to offer the absolute best for everyone and we’ll continue to do so.”

As Decatur County Community Schools confronts an uncertain financial future, its track record of innovation and community partnership positions it to weather the storm while maintaining the excellence that has defined its reputation across rural Indiana.

AT A GLANCE

Who: Decatur County Community Schools

What: Rural school district serving four schools with specialized career pathways in biomedical sciences, cybersecurity, manufacturing, and agriculture

Where: Decatur County, Indiana

Website: www.decaturco.k12.in.us