Mr. Tony Crush is an Algebra 2 (Honors and Advanced) teacher. Having previously taught at Fern Creek and Valley High School, this school year is his fifth year as a JCPS teacher. After his first day, he was very impressed that everyone was prepared to learn.

“Everybody here, and I mean everybody here, seems to want to be here. They care about what they’re going to learn, and treat everyone with respect. It’s almost surreal,” said Mr. Crush. “To be honest, I’m still in a bit of shock. I’m starting to feel guilty that I’m getting paid to do this.”

Mr. Crush has had a career he considers diverse. He’s currently working on getting his Master’s degree in both mathematics and education. Among many other occupations, he’s been a policeman, a detective, and has refereed for US Soccer since he was 11 years old, which has allowed him to see most of the United States and over twenty other countries. Mr. Crush’s students have not been able to understand why he teaches, after he’s had the opportunity to pursue all of these careers.

“I wanted to teach. It didn’t matter to me what I was going to teach. My initial interest was English,” said Mr. Crush, “I like words and grammar, but JCPS needed a math teacher, and I was only a couple classes short of qualifying as a ‘highly qualified math teacher’.”

Mr. Crush wants his class to be fun and easy for his students. He hopes that they are able to not just understand, but remember what he teaches them, and find a way to apply math to real-life situations.

“I don’t think I’ve ever had a job where I enjoy coming to work more than I do here,” Crush said, “The teachers, students and staff have just been so overwhelmingly open. I love it.”