GREENFIELD — Ann Vail views her career in education as having two chapters.
Chapter one began 42 years ago as a fifth-grade teacher in the Eastern Hancock district. Next month, her second chapter will come to an end as Vail is set to retire as the associate superintendent of Greenfield-Central schools.
In her time as a teacher and an administrator, Vail sees herself not as the main character, but in a supporting role. She said the relationships she’s formed with her colleagues and her students and their families from both Hancock County school districts have kept her coming back to work year after year.
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“You keep meeting new people, you keep having new opportunities,” she said.
Vail spent the first 18 years of her 42-year education career working for Eastern Hancock. The Ball State University graduate started teaching fifth grade in 1977 at Charlottesville Elementary, before the district opened Eastern Hancock Elementary School in 1979. Vail later oversaw the district’s high-ability program and coached Eastern Hancock High School’s varsity girls volleyball team.
While teaching at Eastern Hancock, Vail met her husband, Mark Vail, the elementary school’s physical education teacher. He’s also retiring at the end of the school year after 40 years teaching.
“What a wonderful community in which to start teaching,” Vail said about Eastern Hancock.
Vail, originally from New Castle, grew up around educators. Her father was a teacher. Her mother was a teacher. And now, her sister is a teacher. Not only was education ingrained into her at a young age at home, but she had several role models in school who inspired her and challenged her as a student.
“I thought that I wanted to do that for other students,” she said.
Vail said she loved teaching fifth grade and helping students daily reach their goals in the classroom. But when she was offered a position as an administrator at Greenfield-Central Schools in 1995, Vail said it she couldn’t pass it up, saying she still feels “fortunate” for the opportunity. The district wanted someone with a background in high-ability education and curriculum development — two of her passions.
This second chapter of her career, she said, allowed her to deepen her skills and serve students and teachers in a different way.
“You have an opportunity to really make changes that affect the whole school corporation. In my teaching practice … I could make an impact on that group of students.” she said, “We’ve had a chance to create opportunities for the eight schools and build programs and continue on making things better.”
Although Vail’s job at Greenfield-Central meant a change of community, she’s still kept up with many of the students and families of Eastern Hancock to this day. She even works with a few former students.
Jobie Whitaker, principal of Maxwell Intermediate School, said he can always ask Vail for advice. He said she makes him think about situations from a different perspective and challenges him to think more deeply.
She’s been doing that for decades, he said. Whitaker was at student in Eastern Hancock’s high-ability program when Vail coordinated the classes, and he started teaching for Greenfield-Central two years after the district hired Vail. His father was also Eastern Hancock’s principal when Vail taught there.
Jamie Lowes first met Vail, who she still calls Mrs. Vail, in her fifth-grade class. Vail was a challenging fifth-grade teacher, Lowes said, and she has kept that rigor as a teacher in her role as an administrator.
For the past five years, Lowes has worked as the a tier 1 instructional math coach at Greenfield-Central, and her direct supervisor is Vail. In her second year of teaching at Greenfield-Central 20 years ago, Lowes coached Vail’s daughter, who was in sixth grade at the time, on the school’s volleyball team.
Lowes said she’ll miss her former teacher’s natural ability to talk with teachers in a manner that’s professional, yet so personal.
“She knows us as individuals and also as professionals, which I think has made her so successful in her time at G-C,” Lowes said. “She’s truly one of those people who builds relationships so well.”
When Vail and her husband retire this summer, they’re planning on spending time outdoors hiking, biking and playing tennis. They also want to travel more and visit with friends and family.
Once her retirement begins on July 1, Vail admits it might take some time to get used to the change.
“Anytime you’ve been in the same routine for 42 years, I do imagine it will take a while to transition to a different schedule,” she said.
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Greenfield-Central hires a new administrator to oversee elementary education, Page A8.
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GREENFIELD — The Greenfield-Central School Board on Monday approved the hiring of Megan Thompson as the director of elementary education. She will assume the position held by associate superintendent Ann Vail, who will retire at the end of June.
Thompson is currently the director of curriculum and innovation at Heritage Christian Schools. Prior to that, she was an elementary school administrator with Hamilton Southeastern Schools. She has 15 years of teaching experience at the elementary level, with stints at Indian Creek, Plainfield and Hamilton Southeastern schools.
Thompson holds a bachelor’s degree from Franklin College in elementary education and a master’s degree from Ball State University in school administration.
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The public is invited to an open house in honor of Ann Vail’s retirement from Greenfield-Central Schools. The gathering will be 3:30-5:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 29, at the Greenfield-Central Education Service Center, 700 N. Broadway.
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