A fresh coat: 2003 Union High School graduate Chris Gentry sands the Dugger Bulldog mascot as he prepares it for a coat of paint on Friday at the new Dugger-Union school in Dugger. Below, the former Union High School is now the Dugger-Union school. The new school has entered a partnership with Indiana Cyber Charter School. Staff photo by Joseph C. Garza
Volunteers worked day and night last week cleaning and preparing Dugger-Union school for the Aug. 25 start of classes.
They washed walls, mopped floors, cleaned classrooms and moved furniture to ready the school for more than 300 students in grades K-12 expected to walk through the doors.
Yes, Dugger residents have succeeded in keeping a school in their home community, through a partnership with Indiana Cyber Charter School. Each student will have a laptop and classes will combine online learning with face-to-face instruction. The school will be a campus of ICCS.
Hiring of staff is under way, with at least six teachers hired as of Friday.
Depending on enrollment, staffing could include one teacher per grade level for K-8, and one high school teacher for each core course — English, math, science and social studies.
Indiana Cyber Charter School administers the school and makes financial decisions, in cooperation with Dugger-Union Community Schools, said Kevin Davis, ICCS consultant. The two entities have a memorandum of understanding. The fact that the school is opening “is nothing short of a miracle,” said Danny Tieken, the school’s educational leader, football coach and English teacher.
It hasn’t been easy. “There have been a lot of heartaches and headaches and tears,” he said. “People have questioned themselves.”
But the community remained determined. “Every time there was a road block, they didn’t jump over it.
They kicked it down and kept going,” Tieken said.
The Northeast Sullivan School Corp. board voted in December to close Union High School and Dugger Elementary. Then, on May 1 the community’s application to open its own charter school was rejected by the Indiana Charter School Board. But the Dugger community didn’t give up and now have the partnership with ICCS, a charter school authorized by Trine University and recognized by the state of Indiana. Because ICCS is a public charter school, parents will pay no tuition, Tieken said.
Funding will come from Indiana tuition support, as the public dollars follow the child. Tieken estimated it at about $5,000 per child.
Nor will parents be charged for the laptops, he said.
ALL HANDS ON DECK
On Wednesday, Nikki McCoy and former school custodian Lisa Parr assigned cleanup tasks. Many students — both those who plan to attend the school as well as those who have graduated — were on hand, as were parents and other supporters.
Some of the adults had children who will attend the school; others didn’t. Some came from Dugger — others came from nearby communities. “We’re going to be ready no matter what,” said Parr, who worked at the Northeast Sullivan schools until they closed. Two of her children graduated from Union and another is a senior this year.
What school custodians typically do over the summer, “We’re basically doing in two weeks,” said Justin Todd, board member of Dugger- Union Community Schools and a 2007 Union graduate. Northeast Sullivan schools turned over the keys to the schools Aug. 8, and cleanup began Aug. 10. Volunteers have been on hand from early morning to late at night. McCoy has been putting in some long days, from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. In addition, she is the school’s volunteer volleyball coach and conducts practice in the afternoon. Seventeen girls are on the team. “We’re doing it for the kids,” said McCoy, who is also the school cheerleading coach. The volleyball team had its first event Friday at Riverton-Parke High School.
Among the volunteers Wednesday was Kyndall Foli, who will be a freshman.
“This school means a lot to me,” she said. Those who attend and work there “are a big family.” She helped clean carpets, bathrooms, walls — and yes, she was sore from her hours of labor. Also helping was Carson Gaines, who graduated this year. While he only attended Union one year — and played on the basketball team — “I’ve never felt so close to so may people before,” he said.
“I feel I excelled here.” He wants others to have that same opportunity. At one point, McCoy took a cart of donated cleaning supplies to the elementary side, where volunteer Dee Fulford helped clean walls.
She lives in Sullivan and has no children that will attend.
“My husband went to school here,” Fulford said. “I’m here to help and get the school back open for the kids.”
TIEKEN FEELS HE’S ‘PART OF DUGGER’
DUCS leaders including Kyle Foli and Greg Ellis sought out Tieken, who taught and coached at Union High School for three years, from 1986-88, and while there, led the football team to a 19-9 record. “Around Dugger, that makes Danny Tieken a legend,” national columnist Gregg Doyel recently wrote in a lengthy CBSsports.com article. “I feel like I’m part of Dugger,” Tieken said in an interview at the school. “I think I’ve been adopted by Dugger.”
He identifies with the town and its residents, whom he describes as “charismatic and magnetic.
…They’re kind of a tough breed of people, blue collar, coal mining, hard-working people. I’ve always enjoyed being around people like that.”
Among those he’ll teach will be the sons and daughters of some of his former students from the 1980s, he said.
Tieken has about 30 years of teaching experience and a master’s degree in curriculum. Most recently, he taught at Brown County High School and coached football at Bloomington North.
At age 59, he was probably a few years from retirement. But the opportunity to return to Dugger, both as an administrator and coach, was one he could not let go.
“So here I am,” Tieken said. “I’m back, and this is where I’ll probably end.”
The real story, he says, is how the community has come together — donating time, talent and labor — to keep their school and their town.
Last Sunday, when it was pointed out that the grass needed mowing, volunteers completed the task — a major undertaking — by the end of the day, and no one got paid.
Others have volunteered to do outdoor landscaping. “It looks like something out of Better Homes & Gardens,” Tieken said Friday. Before, “It looked like a jungle.” The community has had much support, moral and otherwise, in its uphill battle to maintain a school. A private school that closed donated many items, including furniture.
Generous donations of football equipment from many, different high schools have made the football program possible, he said.
“Some of the biggest schools in the state were our biggest help.” He estimated the value of the used, certified equipment — if purchased new — at around $15,000. Thanks to the kindness of those other teams, “We’ll be fully equipped,” he said.
With Tieken’s many years of coaching, he has a lot of good friends in the football community. The Dugger-Union team’s first scrimmage was Saturday, at Springs Valley High School in French Lick; there will be nine regular-season games, he said. Twenty-five students are on the football team, and the school colors will remain black and gold while the school mascot remains the Bulldogs. The school will have sports for each season, football and volleyball in fall; girls and boys basketball in winter; and baseball and softball in spring. Other extracurricular activities and clubs will also be offered, including a Leo club where students learn service and leadership.
The school is breaking new ground, and there will inevitably be some bumps in the road, he said. “As we get up and running, we’re asking people to be patient with us,” Tieken said.
But whatever problems may arise, “This community will figure out some way to solve it,” he said. “We’ll always keep students’ best interest in mind.”
IT’S GREAT TO BE A BULLDOG
The community pride is everywhere, including near the entrance to town, where on Wednesday afternoon, Gina Lovelace put lettering on a newly installed, large sign donated by citizens.
Located on town property along Indiana 54, the sign provided information on new student enrollment and the upcoming football and volleyball scrimmages.
Lovelace didn’t have quite all the letters she needed. “A bunch of us chipped in and bought the sign,” she said.
Other volunteers installed it.
The journey to keep a school in Dugger has been full of ups and downs, but in the end, it will happen. “It’s amazing,” Lovelace said. “We feel wonderful.”
The bottom of the sign said it all. “Go dogs.”
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