39-year educator Joyce to retire in June
By Steve Heath | The Times-Post
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PENDLETON — Daniel Joyce’s long and successful career as an administrator in the South Madison Community School Corp. all started thanks to some great advice from his mother.
“Like so many 18-year-olds, I didn’t know what I wanted to do,” Joyce recalled. “My mother (Susie Joyce) said, ‘I think you’d make a great teacher.’
“My mother was spot on,” he said. “It’s been a labor of love.”
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Click here to purchase photos from this galleryAt the end of June, Joyce will retire, wrapping up 39 years in education.
Starting as a fourth-grade teacher in 1980 at Pendleton East Elementary school, Joyce took his first administrator’s job six years later. He became an assistant principal at East, serving in that position for 13 years. For the past 20 years, he has been the principal at Pendleton Heights Middle School.
“(Former Superintendent) Charlie Mock told me years ago, ‘You need to get things lined up so you can retire at a young enough age, so you and your wife can enjoy your retirement before your health fails,’” Joyce recalled. “We’ve lived by that and came up with a plan a long time ago about when we might want to retire. We had a plan and stuck to it, and all of a sudden it’s here.”
Joyce’s wife of 41 years (in August), Teresa, retired two years ago from the Anderson school system.
He said they plan on traveling, spending more time with family — they have two grandchildren and a third on the way — and continuing involvement in other community activities.
Joyce is leaving the middle school in great condition, according to the state.
Indiana Department of Education bestowed Four Star status on the school this year; it was the only school in Madison County to receive the honor this year.
It was the fourth time in Joyce’s tenure the school has earned the recognition.
To receive Four Star designation, a school must receive an “A” on the state’s A-F accountability system and have excellent ISTEP pass rates.
The school also has earned an “A” rating from the state five of the past seven years.
“This entire staff, with the exception of two positions, I was able to bring to South Madison and form the team we have here,” Joyce said. “They work so hard and are so dedicated and professional. They have reached heights that this school had never seen before with the accolades with the A rating, which multiple schools in our district have, and we are really proud of the Four Star status.
“My role is to support the teachers,” he added. “The teachers do the work. My role is to provide resources and support. The result of that is the school receiving the awards we have. It has been pretty fulfilling to watch that happen.”
Plenty of support to go around
While Joyce has supported his teachers, he gives much credit to the support he has received along the way, too: His wife, Teresa, and former principals and bosses Terry Auker and Nancy Bourke.
Auker hired Joyce in 1980 as a teacher. Bourke gave Joyce his first administration job in 1986.
Auker moved to Pendleton Heights Middle School and eventually retired, at which time — about 20 years ago — Joyce stepped into that position.
Along with his mentors, Joyce said superintendents and school boards through the years have been instrumental in his school’s accomplishments.
Just as he lets his teachers teach, he said the board trustees and superintendents have always let principals run their buildings.
“You learn so much about who you want to be (over the years),” Joyce said. “I have gained so many skills with the administrators I’ve worked under and the school board.
“You can’t be a change agent without a lot of support. This school board and the school boards that have preceded them, they’ve always been supportive, and it’s because of the superintendents. Mr. (Joe) Buck is an example of that. He lets principals run their building and gives us the tools we need, similar fashion to me providing the resources the teachers need. I need someone to give me resources as well.”
The admiration and respect is mutual.
“Mr. Joyce is a strong academic leader, which is evident as Pendleton Heights Middle School has been designated a Four Star School by the Indiana Department of Education four out of the last seven years,” Buck said.
“The South Madison Board of School Trustees and I appreciate Mr. Joyce’s years of service and dedication to the community and South Madison Community School Corp. His professionalism, knowledge and experience will be missed. I wish him the very best in his retirement. He certainly has earned it.”
Always an Arabian
Though traveling will be part of the retirement plan, people can still expect to see him around Madison County, whether it’s with his continued involvement with his church, Wesley Free Methodist in Anderson, or with the local Boy Scouts of America Troop 232.
“I’ll be an Arabian a long time after I retire,” he said.
Joyce will still be involved with athletic programs in the school system. He was a football statistician for the high school from 1986 to 2018. He will continue to run the play clock on Friday nights in the fall. He has also been a statistician, and will continue to be after retirement, for the boys’ basketball team.
You could say it is part of spending more time with family. Son Michael Joyce is a varsity assistant coach with the high school football, basketball and track and field teams and is an instructional assistant at Pendleton Elementary School Intermediate.
While the education tree may have started with Daniel and Teresa, it has branched out considerably.
Along with their son, daughter Keri Davis is in the education business. She is a middle school teacher in Brownsburg. Both of their spouses are teachers.
Of course, after so many years, there is an Arabian family, too.
“It’s a tight-knit community with a lot of great people here,” Joyce said. “Whether it’s academics, arts, athletics, there’s a lot of pride in being an Arabian.”
