For as far back as he can remember, education has been at the center of Dr. William Long’s life. Both of his parents worked in the school system. His father was an elementary school teacher who moved up the ranks to elementary school principal, then assistant superintendent, then finally superintendent. Meanwhile, his mother was a jack of all trades at the elementary school, where she took on the role of school nurse, librarian and secretary, depending on where she was needed.
Long was inspired by both his parents and teachers to pursue a job in the education field. After earning his bachelor’s degree in industrial technology, he landed his first teaching job at New Castle High School.
“That was a lot of fun because I was teaching there during the Steve Alford era,” says Long. “He was a great kid, and his dad was a good teacher and coach.”
In 1985 Long pivoted and decided to join the Army. Following basic training, he went to jump school to learn how to parachute out of airplanes.
“Now that I’m older, I’m wondering what I was thinking, doing that,” Long says with a chuckle.
He got assigned as an ammunition officer and later a nuclear weapons officer. He spent a total of five years in Germany. During that time he experienced a lot of excitement. In addition to the birth of his daughter, Elizabeth, the Berlin Wall came down. Plus, Long’s unit was responsible for communications when they flew out the first Pershing missiles as part of the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks treaty.
When he returned from Germany, he served several assignments including the U.S. Army Ordnance Corps until Desert Storm. After several years it became clear that he was going to have to move five more times in three years, and he didn’t want to put his family through that. He received an honorable discharge from the Army in 1994 to pursue a doctorate degree from IU. The principal at Rushville High School, a former classmate, asked Long to become assistant principal. From there he moved on to the assistant principal job at Center Grove High School. He has spent the past 27 years working for Center Grove Community School Corporation in some capacity – as assistant principal, then principal, then assistant superintendent, and now superintendent.
“I’m humbled that the board asked me to become superintendent,” Long says. “This is the ultimate position for someone who has been in education and educational administration for so long. It may be late in my career, but it’s still a thrill.”
Spending nearly three decades in the same area has been a real treat for Long, who has enjoyed getting to know everyone in the community.
“When my kids were little, they never wanted to run errands with me because they knew I’d inevitably run into people I knew and I’d stop to talk to them,” Long says. “As I’ve gotten older, I’ve truly grown to appreciate the connections I’ve made with parents, fire chiefs, sheriffs and everyone else in the community.”
Although Center Grove still exudes a small-town feel, through the years the schools have exploded in size. Currently, Center Grove has nearly 10,000 students enrolled and 1,200 employees.
“That level of responsibility is a little daunting, but we have great teachers, administrators and school board members,” Long says. “Everybody wants the same thing – for kids to be successful.”
Long has specific plans for the future of Center Grove schools. Topping the list is focusing on students’ mental health.
“As we looked at our kids’ success, we knew we wanted to address the whole child – not just their academic performance or their physical safety, but their mental health as well,” Long says. Therefore, one of his first changes was promoting Christy Berger to executive director of student services. Berger returned to Center Grove from the Indiana Department of Education, where she was the state’s leading expert in mental health. They were thrilled for her to come back to Center Grove. She had previously worked as a school counselor at both the elementary and middle school levels.
Four years ago Center Grove partnered with Community Health to provide mental health services in their schools (with parent consent). Since then, additional counselors, social workers and behavior coaches have been hired to support students. Counselors also teach lessons that align with Indiana’s Employability Skills they will need to succeed in the workforce (e.g., resilience and collaboration).
Family outreach is a big part of addressing the whole child, so they are working with schools to get more parents involved in functions like parent-teacher conferences, back-to-school nights, and fun events like movie nights.
Long is looking to invest in improving school climate and leadership as well.
“Our principals are all great, but I want to help make them even better leaders,” Long says. He plans to have guest speakers come in and talk about what it means to be a good leader and the importance of taking care of people. Long chose four administrators to take a 12-week national school climate leadership certification program. Upon completion, those four administrators will then develop a plan to improve climate in all of the school buildings and share it with Center Grove’s administration and staff.
Long is proud of how well they address school safety at Center Grove. The district partnered with the Bargersville and White River Township fire departments to build an Emergency Operations Center in 2021, located on the main campus and staffed round the clock by the fire department.
“We are the first one in the country to have something like that,” Long says.
He and his wife, Laurie, have five children, Elizabeth, Meredith, Derek, Hilary, and Madeline. They also have four grandchildren and an English cream golden retriever who insists on taking nightly walks.
“If we don’t walk her every night, she stares at us like, ‘Seriously? You’re not taking me out tonight?’” Long says.
When he’s not out walking, Long loves to read. He’s also a huge Colts fan. Years ago, he and his son, Derek, started a tradition of trying to visit all the NFL stadiums. Last year they went to Germany to watch the Colts play. This year they will go to New York, which they plan to count as two visits since the Giants and the Jets play in the same stadium.
