July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
Board asked to keep taxpayers in mind (08/28/07)
Jay County School Board
By By JACK RONALD-
The Jay School Board got an earful Monday night, hearing complaints about rising property taxes and a plan to accumulate funds to build an auxiliary gymnasium/multi-purpose facility at Jay County High School.
But it will be next month before it's known whether those complaints will have any impact on school spending.
More than 35 people were on hand for a public hearing on the 2008 Jay Schools budget, and about 15 of them spoke to the board Monday, most of them urging spending restraint.
The school corporation has advertised a 2008 budget totaling $34,267,580, with $15,487,124 of that amount projected to come from property taxes.
A budget adoption meeting is scheduled for Sept. 17. Budgets can be lowered after they have been publicly advertised, but they cannot be increased.
"Our biggest concern is our taxes on our property," said Paul Copeland, president of the Jay County Landlords Association. "We cannot continue to raise our rents." Expressing concern over the size of the school corporation's debt, he added, "We continue to spend, we do not continue to decrease our debt load, which is what we ought to do."
"My taxes went up 100 percent," said Portland homeowner Fred Conkling. "The school board's like Congress and federal officials. You just don't seem to listen to the taxpayers."
Several individuals questioned the board's capital projects fund plan that would accumulate funds over time to construct an auxiliary gym/multi-purpose facility. An earlier plan to issue bonds for construction was met with a remonstrance petition this spring and was shelved.
"I don't believe any of us as taxpayers has been asked about that," said Clarel Strausberg, rural Portland.
"I don't think there's a strong consensus in the county that we want it," added Rex Carpenter, rural Portland.
Duane Starr, a former school board president, urged the board to consider two possible steps: Either dedicate the $250,000 being set aside annually for an auxiliary gym for maintenance of existing buildings, or reduce the tax burden by eliminating it from the budget entirely.
"I think you folks owe it to the general public ... to give them a response," said Jim Sanders, Portland, who was involved in the remonstrance petition and has written several letters to the editor about property taxes.
"I agree with that," responded Bryan Alexander, board president. "We will follow up with answers."
"We take every comment ... to heart," said board member Frank Vormohr. "We don't just sit up here and blow off your comments."
Both Vormohr and Alexander noted that the school budget is an extremely complex document.
"The majority of the general fund budget is salaries and benefits," said Alexander.
Vormohr, a backer of the multi-purpose facility, also noted that he has been on record in support of an auxiliary gym both before he was elected to the board and when he was re-elected. He also took aim at Sanders over the tone of recent letters to The Commercial Review. "A lot of (the comments), I don't appreciate. ... But say it right to my face. A shot in the paper is something that goes unanswered."
[[In-content Ad]]Plans to upgrade the heating and cooling system at Bloomfield Elementary School won't move forward until the Jay School Board has a clearer idea of how the work would be paid for.
Superintendent Tim Long recommended Monday that the board align with Clay Davis and Honeywell to develop a plan for Bloomfield, developing specifications for a retrofit of the current heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system at the school.
But board members questioned both how the project would be funded and how much the developing of specifications would cost.
"So how are we paying for it?" asked board member Jay Halstead.
"I believe we have a funding source that would pay for it," responded Long. He will return to the board in September with cost estimates for the planning process and suggestions on how the upgrades would be funded.
"One of our goals was to look at heating and cooling at the elementaries," said Long. Barton-Coe-Vilamaa, the school corporation's architectural firm, has reviewed proposals from four different firms for HVAC upgrades at elementary schools.
At Bloomfield, the architects favored Honeywell's proposal for individual air-to-air heat pumps to be installed in each classroom and in the all-purpose room. The heat pumps are estimated to cost about $11,000 each, and 14 classrooms are involved.
Board members learned Monday that East Jay and West Jay Middle Schools had been awarded the Indiana Gold Star School Counseling Award by the Indiana Department of Education and the Indiana Student Achievement Institute.
The two schools have been working with community advisory councils to improve the effectiveness of the school counseling program. "We're still meeting with those people from the community," said West Jay principal Michael Crull.
Assistant superintendent Wood Barwick received board backing for four new goals for the school corporation: Exploring the possibilities of a regional curriculum assisting Japanese students, investigating purchase of air conditioned school buses, building a new back drive at Jay County High School, and the air conditioning of Bloomfield.
Barwick also noted that a key transportation goal, the charting of all students, school boundaries, and bus routes on computers has been accomplished and that work is continuing with the chamber of commerce on attracting JCHS graduates back to employment in Jay County.
In other business, the board:
•Learned that early intervention grants totaling $191,637 have been approved for Redkey, East, Judge Haynes, General Shanks, and Westlawn elementaries.
•Learned that a $130,938 technical planning grant for computers in English classrooms at JCHS had been approved.
•Heard Long report that full-day kindergarten is off to a good start. "The kindergarten teachers I've talked to have been very excited about that," he said.
•Approved moving elementary parent-teacher conferences to the evening, bringing them in line with middle school and high school conferences. The change has no impact on the school calendar and is meant to accommodate the needs of parents better. "I think it will make things easier for parents and for staff," said Long.
•Reviewed a Jay Schools transportation report that notes that school corporation buses travel more than 4,400 miles a day. Currently, the school corporation operates 37 morning routes, 35 afternoon elementary routs, and 34 afternoon middle school and high school routes. Last year, Jay Schools buses traveled 842,545 miles, including 74,907 extra-curricular and athletic program miles.
•Hired Beth Ann Dues as a kindergarten instructional assistant at East Elementary, Rhonda Alig as a part-time food service employee at Judge Haynes Elementary, Aaron Vaughn as a seventh grade science and English teacher at East Jay Middle School, Angela Gick as a math teacher at JCHS, Jenny Peterson as a Prime Time instructional assistant at General Shanks Elementary School, Kelly Henry as a kindergarten instructional assistant at East Elementary, and Ed Paxson as an agriculture and horticulture teacher/substitute at JCHS.
•Accepted the resignations of Erica Pluimer as a math teacher at East Jay, Matthew Swartz as an agriculture teacher at JCHS, Katelin Harvey as a fourth grade teacher at Westlawn Elementary School, and Larry Sprunger as a math teacher at JCHS.
•Accepted the retirement of Duane Weesner as a bus driver.
•Approved several extracurricular assignments, including Ryan Fritz as full-time assistant football coach at JCHS, Violet Current as eighth grade volleyball coach at East Jay, James Roberts as seventh grade head football coach at West Jay Middle School, Irene Taylor as pep club and student council sponsor at West Jay, Randy Rigby as volunteer assistant volleyball coach at JCHS, and Sheryl Buckmaster as student council and Just Say No Club sponsor at West Jay.
•Accepted the resignation of Andrew Schmit as assistant wrestling coach at East Jay.
•Approved medical leave requests for pre-school coordinator Theresa Linn, East Jay science teacher Laurie Chrisman, and West Jay counselor Laura McCollum.
But it will be next month before it's known whether those complaints will have any impact on school spending.
More than 35 people were on hand for a public hearing on the 2008 Jay Schools budget, and about 15 of them spoke to the board Monday, most of them urging spending restraint.
The school corporation has advertised a 2008 budget totaling $34,267,580, with $15,487,124 of that amount projected to come from property taxes.
A budget adoption meeting is scheduled for Sept. 17. Budgets can be lowered after they have been publicly advertised, but they cannot be increased.
"Our biggest concern is our taxes on our property," said Paul Copeland, president of the Jay County Landlords Association. "We cannot continue to raise our rents." Expressing concern over the size of the school corporation's debt, he added, "We continue to spend, we do not continue to decrease our debt load, which is what we ought to do."
"My taxes went up 100 percent," said Portland homeowner Fred Conkling. "The school board's like Congress and federal officials. You just don't seem to listen to the taxpayers."
Several individuals questioned the board's capital projects fund plan that would accumulate funds over time to construct an auxiliary gym/multi-purpose facility. An earlier plan to issue bonds for construction was met with a remonstrance petition this spring and was shelved.
"I don't believe any of us as taxpayers has been asked about that," said Clarel Strausberg, rural Portland.
"I don't think there's a strong consensus in the county that we want it," added Rex Carpenter, rural Portland.
Duane Starr, a former school board president, urged the board to consider two possible steps: Either dedicate the $250,000 being set aside annually for an auxiliary gym for maintenance of existing buildings, or reduce the tax burden by eliminating it from the budget entirely.
"I think you folks owe it to the general public ... to give them a response," said Jim Sanders, Portland, who was involved in the remonstrance petition and has written several letters to the editor about property taxes.
"I agree with that," responded Bryan Alexander, board president. "We will follow up with answers."
"We take every comment ... to heart," said board member Frank Vormohr. "We don't just sit up here and blow off your comments."
Both Vormohr and Alexander noted that the school budget is an extremely complex document.
"The majority of the general fund budget is salaries and benefits," said Alexander.
Vormohr, a backer of the multi-purpose facility, also noted that he has been on record in support of an auxiliary gym both before he was elected to the board and when he was re-elected. He also took aim at Sanders over the tone of recent letters to The Commercial Review. "A lot of (the comments), I don't appreciate. ... But say it right to my face. A shot in the paper is something that goes unanswered."
[[In-content Ad]]Plans to upgrade the heating and cooling system at Bloomfield Elementary School won't move forward until the Jay School Board has a clearer idea of how the work would be paid for.
Superintendent Tim Long recommended Monday that the board align with Clay Davis and Honeywell to develop a plan for Bloomfield, developing specifications for a retrofit of the current heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system at the school.
But board members questioned both how the project would be funded and how much the developing of specifications would cost.
"So how are we paying for it?" asked board member Jay Halstead.
"I believe we have a funding source that would pay for it," responded Long. He will return to the board in September with cost estimates for the planning process and suggestions on how the upgrades would be funded.
"One of our goals was to look at heating and cooling at the elementaries," said Long. Barton-Coe-Vilamaa, the school corporation's architectural firm, has reviewed proposals from four different firms for HVAC upgrades at elementary schools.
At Bloomfield, the architects favored Honeywell's proposal for individual air-to-air heat pumps to be installed in each classroom and in the all-purpose room. The heat pumps are estimated to cost about $11,000 each, and 14 classrooms are involved.
Board members learned Monday that East Jay and West Jay Middle Schools had been awarded the Indiana Gold Star School Counseling Award by the Indiana Department of Education and the Indiana Student Achievement Institute.
The two schools have been working with community advisory councils to improve the effectiveness of the school counseling program. "We're still meeting with those people from the community," said West Jay principal Michael Crull.
Assistant superintendent Wood Barwick received board backing for four new goals for the school corporation: Exploring the possibilities of a regional curriculum assisting Japanese students, investigating purchase of air conditioned school buses, building a new back drive at Jay County High School, and the air conditioning of Bloomfield.
Barwick also noted that a key transportation goal, the charting of all students, school boundaries, and bus routes on computers has been accomplished and that work is continuing with the chamber of commerce on attracting JCHS graduates back to employment in Jay County.
In other business, the board:
•Learned that early intervention grants totaling $191,637 have been approved for Redkey, East, Judge Haynes, General Shanks, and Westlawn elementaries.
•Learned that a $130,938 technical planning grant for computers in English classrooms at JCHS had been approved.
•Heard Long report that full-day kindergarten is off to a good start. "The kindergarten teachers I've talked to have been very excited about that," he said.
•Approved moving elementary parent-teacher conferences to the evening, bringing them in line with middle school and high school conferences. The change has no impact on the school calendar and is meant to accommodate the needs of parents better. "I think it will make things easier for parents and for staff," said Long.
•Reviewed a Jay Schools transportation report that notes that school corporation buses travel more than 4,400 miles a day. Currently, the school corporation operates 37 morning routes, 35 afternoon elementary routs, and 34 afternoon middle school and high school routes. Last year, Jay Schools buses traveled 842,545 miles, including 74,907 extra-curricular and athletic program miles.
•Hired Beth Ann Dues as a kindergarten instructional assistant at East Elementary, Rhonda Alig as a part-time food service employee at Judge Haynes Elementary, Aaron Vaughn as a seventh grade science and English teacher at East Jay Middle School, Angela Gick as a math teacher at JCHS, Jenny Peterson as a Prime Time instructional assistant at General Shanks Elementary School, Kelly Henry as a kindergarten instructional assistant at East Elementary, and Ed Paxson as an agriculture and horticulture teacher/substitute at JCHS.
•Accepted the resignations of Erica Pluimer as a math teacher at East Jay, Matthew Swartz as an agriculture teacher at JCHS, Katelin Harvey as a fourth grade teacher at Westlawn Elementary School, and Larry Sprunger as a math teacher at JCHS.
•Accepted the retirement of Duane Weesner as a bus driver.
•Approved several extracurricular assignments, including Ryan Fritz as full-time assistant football coach at JCHS, Violet Current as eighth grade volleyball coach at East Jay, James Roberts as seventh grade head football coach at West Jay Middle School, Irene Taylor as pep club and student council sponsor at West Jay, Randy Rigby as volunteer assistant volleyball coach at JCHS, and Sheryl Buckmaster as student council and Just Say No Club sponsor at West Jay.
•Accepted the resignation of Andrew Schmit as assistant wrestling coach at East Jay.
•Approved medical leave requests for pre-school coordinator Theresa Linn, East Jay science teacher Laurie Chrisman, and West Jay counselor Laura McCollum.
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