By: Dave Bowman and Stephen McCollum

Although not apparent on the surface, there is an underlying rationale to Blackford County Schools Superintendent Chad Yencer’s college major, kinesiology and exercise science, and his first three years on the job.

Kinesiology is the science dealing with the interrelationship of physiological processes and the anatomy of the human body with respect to movement. The first priority of Yencer’s tenure has been the major exercise of integrating and moving the middle and high school student body of Blackford County into the Blackford Junior Senior High School. 

Of course, Yencer did some other serious study between college and taking the helm in Blackford County—like a master’s degree in educational administration from Ball State University and the Ed.S. from Indiana Wesleyan University—which integrates his knowledge about human movement with the mission of education. 

Facilitation of the middle and high school integration required the construction of a new gymnasium (now officially the Russ Sutton Center in honor of one of the county’s much admired middle school teachers and coaches), upgrades to infrastructure, and reconfiguration of selected areas to accommodate shared resources.

For example, consolidation of resources provides additional course offerings for middle schoolers, as well as enhanced access to electives like band, choir, and JROTC. 

Blackford Junior Senior High School is now the hub for all bus operations at that level, making for more efficient routes. 

Yencer came to Blackford County Schools with intimate knowledge of the system. He was a teacher for three years and served as assistant principal at BHS from 1999-2003. In the interim to his appointment as superintendent, he was assistant principal and athletics director at Wapahani High School for three years and then principal at Southern Wells High School for 11 years.

The infrastructure focus turns next to transitioning the old Hartford City Junior High School into Blackford Intermediate School, for grades 3-6. Northside Elementary will be reconfigured from grades 3-6 to Pre-K to 2. Both sites involve interior renovations and major roof repairs. The goal is to have them ready for the 2020-21 academic year. The School Board is still weighing how to use the Southside Elementary site.

The purpose of the bricks and mortar, of course, are to house a positive environment for learning. Yencer points out that Blackford Junior Senior High School now offers dual credit courses that can give students a head-start toward post-secondary goals. The graduation rate for the last three years is 94 percent, six points above the state average. Sixth grade math scores have elevated to new high levels. 

The Indiana I-Learn Test is just in its second year of implementation and it will take a few years to establish a baseline for evaluating results. 

Yencer and his wife, Christine, have three daughters—Meghan, who teaches eighth grade English at Whiteland; Jessica, a student at Ball State; and Jadyn, a freshman in high school.

Superintendent Yencer invites the public the the monthly meetings of the School Board, on the third Tuesday at 6 p.m. at the Central Office. The Blackford County Schools vision statement is “Educating Students, Changing the World.”