Scottsburg High School Principal Casey Brewster considers Scottsburg his adopted hometown.
“Coming to Scottsburg was an opportunity for our family to come home,” Brewster said. “Our family is connected to Scottsburg.”
Brewster’s wife of 25 years, Jaye, is a 1988 graduate of SHS. His in-laws, Gary and Jenna Busick, were teachers at Scott 2. Many members of his wife’s family still live in Scott County.
“I was familiar with the [Scott 2] schools,” Brewster said.
Brewster’s path to SHS started more than 25 years ago when the Illinois native moved from California to Indiana.
“I did not grow up in Indiana,” Brewster said.
Brewster grew up in Quincy, Ill., a city on the Mississippi River. During high school, his family moved to southern California and lived in the Garden Grove and Long Beach area. He graduated from high school in California.
After high school graduation, Brewster, who was younger than his 18-year-old classmates, felt he was not ready to go to college.
“I wasn’t ready to go to college or know where I wanted to go,” Brewster said. “I went to work after graduation.”
Through his sister’s fiancé at the time, Brewster was offered an opportunity to become an assistant manager at a Shoe Carnival store in Fort Wayne.
“I loaded up my Chevy S10 pickup truck,” Brewster said about his cross-country trek from California to Indiana.
Brewster was successful in his position at Fort Wayne and was offered the store manager position at the Shoe Carnival store in Bloomington.
“I quickly learned I didn’t want to work in retail,” Brewster said after moving to the college town of Bloomington.
Soon, Brewster started college at Indiana University Bloomington and majored in medicine because he was interested in science.
“After my first semester, I was intrigued with being a teacher and an educator,” Brewster said.
It was in Bloomington where he met his wife, who is currently a teacher at Paoli Junior and Senior High School. The two married after both graduating from IU. Brewster and his wife have three daughters, Alexa, who is a second-year law student at Salmon P. Chase College of Law at Northern Kentucky University; Olivia, who is a junior at IU Bloomington; and Isabela, who is a junior at Paoli.
After college, Brewster started his career in education as a third-grade teacher in Greensburg. He later taught social studies and computer applications at the secondary education level. He coached cross-country, basketball, and track.
After being in the classroom, Brewster earned a Master’s degree and completed his administrator’s license. Before coming to SHS, Brewster was an administrator at Paoli Community Schools for 15 years.
Now, at SHS, Brewster hopes to build relationships with the students, staff, parents, and community members.
“First I want to understand how and why things are done here,” Brewster said. “I will be talking to a lot of kids and getting to know them. My focus is going to be on the students and the staff.”
He also hopes to be a resource for teachers and looking for ways to help support them in the classroom.
“I want to help remove obstacles for the teachers,” Brewster said.
Along with building relationships and establishing trust with students, parents, staff, and community members, Brewster will prepare for the upcoming accreditation visit this school year. He plans on “diving into assessment data and documentation” and working with staff, parents, students, and community members before the visit.
Outside of school, Brewster enjoys playing golf, reading, spending time with his family and technology.
“I enjoy playing golf although I’m not very good,” Brewster said with a smile.
Brewster also likes reading books on leadership, organizational leadership, and education, spending time with his
family, and considers himself tech savvy.
“I consider myself somewhat of a tech geek,” Brewster said. “I enjoy reading about new innovations in technology.”
“I will be quick to point out: Technology itself is not an answer or a strategy to improve student learning. Student learning relies upon knowledgeable and skilled teachers, relevant content, and engaging lessons. Technology is another important tool students will use to learn,” Brewster said.