The Dynamic Duo

If any two FCHS teachers seemed to have been born joined at the hip, it might be math teachers Jason Barnett and Jason Davis. This iconic duo are often seen walking the Fluvanna halls side by side or on the fields as they head out to coach a sport. Everything, from what they say to what they do together, screams “bromance.”

Surprisingly, the two did not grow up as best friends. They met briefly while Barnett was in high school. One of Davis’ favorite memories is when he saw the farthest home run he had ever seen in baseball–something that just so happened to have been hit by Barnett’s cousin. The funny thing about that story is that Barnett hit one over the scoreboard that same game. Barnett jokes that that fact “somehow seems to be forgotten every time my cousin’s home run is talked about.” After that game, they didn’t see much of each other for a while.

The two did not get to truly know one another until Barnett came to teach at Fluvanna after leaving one of Fluvanna’s most famous rivals, Western Albemarle. Once he arrived at Fluvanna, he was given the nickname of “The Golden Child” by Davis and HIstory teacher Mitchell Pace, who is a very good friend to the duo. This nickname lasted for roughly five whole years, then mysteriously disappeared.

Both of the families take advantage of the bond they now share and use it to have a little fun while creating good memories together. Will Davis, a sophomore and Davis’ youngest child, says if he could choose one word to describe the two it would be “chaotic.” “They are very upbeat when they are around each other and act like absolute idiots,” he says. The duo’s families do lots of fun activities together like playing popular games like Among Us and Ticket To Ride and watching all the Marvel movies.

Watching the Marvel movies is not something they take lightly. Barnett insists that they have seen almost every Marvel movie the day it comes out with their families, even going as far as leaving directly from an away sports game to make the midnight showing or going to the drive-in movie theater on a Thursday night, not getting home till 3 am, and then coming to work that morning at 7:30 am.

The moment they really knew they “clicked” or matched each other well, was one night at Charlottesville High School. Standing in pouring rain, on top of the press box, the two found themselves with a broken headset trying to send information down to the football coaches. They had to hold the headset at a very specific angle and position in order for it to work, something which both agree made them look like fools. Come half time, and they realized no one was listening to them anyways. So for the rest of the football game they talked and bonded over the same things they saw and admired about each other.

Who wouldn’t love to have a matching Jeep with their best friend? Barnett and Davis do. When asked about their well-known matching Jeeps, Davis claims his blue Jeep was bought way before Barnett’s came into the picture. Barnett disagrees. “I did not buy my jeep to match Davis’… it just happened that way. Mine looks cooler, anyways.”

While they may not be brothers by blood, Davis and Barnett are definitely brothers by heart. “I can’t imagine doing this job without him being next door, which is really [former FCHS Principal James] Barlow’s fault. I still can’t believe he let us have classrooms side by side,” said Davis. “We must have caught him when he wasn’t paying attention.”

Their hope for the future? They say that if one of them wins the lottery, they’ll build a sports complex together in Fluvanna. They’ve agreed that one of them will run it, and the other will get paid a ridiculous salary.