Small-Town School Good Fit For IhnenPIERCETON - A small town is the perfect fit for Pierceton Elementary School Principal Barb Ihnen.
"I really like the more rural school, the small town," she said in an interview Oct. 13.
She grew up in Plymouth, which wasn't very big. She taught at Laketon Elementary, which wasn't very large. Now she's in her second year as principal at Pierceton.
"I just like the closeness of families. Parents are so willing to be a part of their child's schooling," she said.Ihnen graduated from Plymouth High School. She earned her associate's degree in early childhood education and bachelor's degree in elementary education from Manchester College. She received her master's degree in elementary education from IPFW, and her gifted and talented endorsement from Purdue University. For her principal's license, she did her course work at Ball State University.
While at Manchester, she met the man who would become her husband, Max. They've been married 31 years.
Their son Matt lives in Milwaukee, Wis.; daughter Andrea lives near Albion; and their youngest, Amy, is a sophomore at Manchester High School.
Ihnen taught for Manchester Community Schools for more than 20 years. She helped start the gifted and talented program there.
After working toward her administration degree, she got a job offer at Marion Community Schools. For three years, she was the early childhood administrator and grant coordinator.
In 2008, the principal job at Pierceton Elementary became available. Ihnen applied and was hired in July last year.
Ihnen originally became a school administrator because she liked writing.
When she started her career in education, she liked to write, she said. She wrote some curriculum and had it published and thought she'd want to get into curriculum development. The more she worked toward her license, the more she found she liked administration.
Being a principal, she feels she can have more of an impact on the school and students. She also can help make the school a positive and safe environment where learning new things takes place.
"If you're going to learn something new, you have to take a risk and you have to feel safe taking risks," Ihnen said.
Two posters hang on her office wall that she feels are very important. One poster reads, "Kids are worth whatever it takes." The other poster reads, "Relationships are at the heart."
Ihnen is building relationships with the students, school staff and parents in various ways.
While discipline is part of her job, she said, "Any time we can take issues (students) have and teach them another way to respond, that's a life-long lesson they can learn."
Pierceton Elementary has done Reading and Writing Workshops for six years. Ihnen said they do a great job at Pierceton, and she just wants to keep improving on that.
"We've really been a leader in Readers and Writers Workshop," she said.
Teachers get together for Inquiry Study Groups. They pick a book to study about teaching, read it and share what they've learned from the book with each other.
The school also has its Response to Intervention Program. If a child is struggling with the curriculum because it's too difficult or not difficult enough for them, the school will put interventions in place to meet that student's needs. Ihnen said she is proud of the staff for their efforts in that and she wants that to continue.
"The students are wonderful. They really work to do their best," Ihnen said.
Pierceton Elementary also has its CUBS guidelines on how students should behave in school. The "C" stands for Caring and Respectful; the "U" for Use Teamwork; the "B" for Be Responsible; and "S" for Safety.
Ihnen said they take the general guidelines and apply them to the different areas of the school. There's CUBS guidelines for the hallway, classroom and bathroom.
The school year starts with Positive Behavior Intervention Support. Students are taken around the school and told what behavior is expected from them.
"We really work on teaching kids how (the guidelines) might work," she said.
The school also talks a lot about "bucket filling." Author Carol McCloud visited Pierceton Elementary last year with her book "Have You Filled a Bucket Today?" The book teaches students about positive and negative behavior. Positive behavior "fills the bucket," while negative behavior takes away.
"We were the first 'Bucket Filling' school in Indiana. We're pretty proud of that," Ihnen said. A school becomes a "Bucket Filling" school once McCloud has visited a school and talked about her book and the program.
Another area where Pierceton works on relationships is with the more mobile population of their student body. Ihnen said they look at how they can acclimate the kids to the school and feel welcome. They also want to acclimate the parents and let them know they are welcome too.
How parents can help their students at home is for them to read to their children more, Ihnen said. That's really, really important, she said.
Pierceton has an active PTO that meets every month. Ihnen said a parent could get involved with the organization. The school already has good parent support.
"We're all in it for the same reason. The more we see it as a teamwork effort, the better it is for the kids," Ihnen said.
Pierceton students are happy and excited to come to school every day, she said, and she's happy to see them. Ihnen loves to go into the classes every day and work with them.
And work she does. She usually arrives to school before 7 a.m. and doesn't get home until 6 p.m. But she enjoys it.
"I love working with kids. It's a passion you have to have," she said of her job.
