6778 Bellsville Pike
Columbus, IN 47201

Brown County HS is a low quality educational environment that gets worse year by year. Many of the best teachers have fled, and some of the new ones they hired have either zero experience or no education degree whatsoever. The instructor for the dual credit Engineering course is a brand new college graduate with an engineering degree, but no education degree. The AP Psychology teacher has no experience, it's his first year. The lack of experience definitely impacted the learning environment. My child is miserable and frustrated. We've had to search online for additional resources. Following all the covid "virtual" education loss (because no teaching or learning was going on...just busy work with no instruction), this year was just another disaster piled on. Most teachers do not effectively utilize Canvas. So as a parent, there is very poor visibility on assignments, when anything is due, or even what grades have posted. Teachers are very slow to update the Skyward grade book, so it has occurred numerous times that in the days before the end of the semester, there is a big surprise, and what looked to be an A or B suddenly turns into an F because of missing work. Too late to remedy in most cases. Also of concern...Nicotine and THC vaping is rampant in this school. If you think you've got a "good kid who would never participate in this type of behavior", I can virtually guarantee you that you are wrong. The peer pressure and sheer volume of use at this school will put any child at risk. We are urgently looking to move before the next school year, in hopes of finding a school that can get our child back on track. We love living in Brown County...but unless you are home-schooling, don't move here.

We recently relocated to the Nashville area with 6 children 4 in elementary school. We also homeschooled for the past 7 years before that my children have been to schools in Florida Sarasota, Illinois , Moorpark California and Ventura California. I also worked with parents to fight a bullying problem in Kern County California . So my exposure to public schools is strong. I feel so grateful and blessed to have found Van Buren, Two of my daughters are struggling and it has been NOTHING but encouraging and understanding with a open arm welcome.And a ton of effort to to figure out how to improve their skills by seeing how hey learn best, The teachers, I can not explain how awesome they are. My Four year old has never been to a sitter or daycare and is SO comfortable going to school everyday. His teacher FULLY sees him as a individual ,and his personality and cares for her students like a parent would. In-fact most of the teachers have their own children in this school and you can see the care that goes in to them. I recently sat in on the PTO meeting and well this school is in need of a new playground and they are actively working to raise the money for one they focus more on what can we do for our students , What experiences can we give them and make it so they can be there and take part, So they make many of their events free, The Office staff is always welcoming and friendly that is with 50 million things going on. The principle is always available to talk and has a great connection with the kids, They have a awesome science room and art room. And the students plant a garden and maintain it all year. I really encourage any new parents looking for a school to go do a walk through meet the Staff, It really is a hidden Gem.

My experience but most importantly my children's experience has been excellent .