Welcome To My Page!

“ The remarkable thing is, we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. ” from "The Bottom of the Pool" by Andy Andrews...If everyone is thinking "outside the box", are we really thinking "outside the box"? Maybe we need to take it up a notch and go "beyond" outside the box!

As I serve the South Vermillion School Corporation as your Superintendent, it's hard for me to grasp the fact just how fast the time has flown by. During my tenure here, which began in 2008, there have been many changes that have taken place in my professional and personal life for which I am so grateful. As a “servant leader”, my leadership approach is one of being an example to those I lead and showing the benefits of how educators, students, and families can create a climate and culture within their school community that leads to success at every level. I believe without a doubt, that our accomplishments have not been solely mine. It takes a great team of administrators, teachers and support staff to achieve our goals. It also takes a great school board that is committed to student success. Together, we will continue to do great work for the SV community.

I began my educational journey as an undergraduate at Indiana State University, graduating in 1982. My first "job" was in Effingham, Illinois where I was a high school social studies teacher and coach. It was there that I received my Master's Degree in School Administration from Eastern Illinois University in 1987. That's when "Phase II" of my career kicked in and I began my administrative journey. My first year in administration was at Clay City Jr/Sr High School where I served as Assistant Principal/Athletic Director. After that first year, I received a call from Vigo County asking me to "come home" and serve the school that I graduated from...West Vigo High School. There, I served as Dean of Students, Assistant Principal, and Principal from 1990 to 2005. From there, I wanted to expand my horizons and seek out new challenges. I spent the next three years at Danville High School (1) and Vincennes Lincoln High School (2). It was during my time at VLHS that I completed my Superintendent's certification at Indiana State University.

Fortunately for me, the superintendent vacancy opened at South Vermillion, and, as the story goes, the rest is history. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at South Vermillion. There is a great sense of pride in having this position knowing that I am charged with the education of the students in our community. I take my role as superintendent with a great deal of responsibility and want to be accountable to all our stakeholders.

To that end, there is a great deal of optimism for the future of our school corporation. Focusing on efforts made through our Mission, Vision and Beliefs, we have established a 5-Year Strategic Plan Framework that guides our plans for the future. We have conducted demographic studies to better understand our community make-up, we went through a recent Facilities Assessment and Report to better understand the physical needs of our school corporation and continued to review our enrollment trends and projections to better gauge our future planning for our schools. All this helps us to better serve our students and community in a fiscally responsible fashion.

We are very excited about what the future holds for the South Vermillion Community School Corporation. We feel it is vitally important for you to know and understand what we are doing and why. Please be sure to browse our website as there are continuous updates and announcements.

On a personal note, I am happily married to my beautiful wife Lorie of 40 years. We love to travel and enjoy the beach, playing golf, taking walks, riding our bikes, or just being with each other. Together, we have raised 4 amazing children: Amanda (husband Doug), who now serves as a registered dietician in Omaha, Nebraska; Jason (wife Katie), who works as Talent Acquisition Manager for "Anji" (formerly Angie's List) in Evansville, Indiana; Heather (husband Dakota), who is a nurse in Evansville, Indiana; and Brandon, who works as an IT Support Engineer, in Omaha, Nebraska. Lastly, we are the proud grandparents of 7 beautiful grandchildren. Cohen, Jaxon, Stella, Amelia, Blakely, Ethan and Callum (Skip).

David A. Chapman, Superintendent