Focus on goals for Jay County High School

Steps are being taken to get Jay County High School back on track in meeting its adequate yearly progress (AYP) goals, school board members were told Monday night.
While the school corporation as a whole met its AYP goal again in the 2009-2010 school year, JCHS fell short, with just 55 percent of sophomores passing the English end-of-course assessment (ECA) test and just 46 percent passing the algebra portion.
That led to the creation of the JCHS School Improvement Committee, which has already implemented a number of changes in curriculum and set in motion plans for additional student remediation.
“It’s happening now,” committee chairman Dolphus Stephens told the board. “Algebra and English curriculums have been totally realigned.”
Some of those efforts appear to be bearing fruit.
Sophomores who took the ECA test this winter performed markedly better. Eighty-six percent passed the English portion, and 71 percent passed algebra.
The committee focused on a number of factors that have an impact on student test scores:
•Attendance.
•Curriculum aligned with state standards.
•Remediation.
•Use of the pre-SAT test to develop a better baseline of student performance.
“Absenteeism is an issue for all of us,” superintendent Tim Long said.
The high school already uses an auto-dialer system that contacts the homes of absent students, and those calls will be made earlier in the day. School officials are also working more closely with the courts, tracking parental contacts, and planning a review of student work permits.
Additional remediation classes will be required for students who don’t pass the ECA test. While after-school remediation will continue to be offered, the required remediation will occur during the school day.
“Mr. (Phil) Ford felt pretty strongly that remediation should be during the day,” Stephens said of the JCHS principal.
Stephens also noted that beginning next school year, the PSAT will be administered to all freshmen. That will provide early identification of students who should pursue advance placement classes and serve as a pre-test and baseline for academic growth.
“We have two years to get off that AYP bubble,” said Long. “We’re on the right track.”
Ford agreed. “Everybody took it on to do whatever they could to make things better. ... I think we’re headed in the right direction,” he said.
The board unanimously adopted a 2011-2012 school calendar which had been the subject of several meetings between administrators and representatives of the Jay Classroom Teachers Association.
Under the calendar for next year, the first day of school for students will be Aug. 18, fall break will be Oct. 27 and 28, Christmas vacation will be from Dec. 21 to Jan. 2, spring break will be March 19 through March 23, the last student day will be May 25, and graduation will be June 10. Two holidays — Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Presidents Day — are included in the calendar as built-in snow days and will be used if needed.
In other business:
•Long and school corporation business manager Brad DeRome reviewed capital projects planned for 2011 and a number of maintenance projects that may be taken on. They hope to hold back about $500,000 in capital projects spending to deal with emergencies.
•Assistant superintendent Wood Barwick informed the board that a grant of $61,218 had been approved by the Indiana Department of Education under the Rural and Low Income School program. Barwick also said a $23,000 grant had been awarded by the American Lung Association to provide direct fired heaters for ten diesel school buses. The heaters will reduce or eliminate the need for engine warm-up in cold weather. Both grants were formally accepted by the board.
•Long told the board a group of 18 teachers from Taiwan will be visiting East Central Indiana in May. He and Redkey Elementary School principal Tom Jerles are coordinating the visit.
•The board approved a contract with Cindy Cash of John Jay Center for Learning as the IPACE coordinator.
•The board hired Dana McClung, Gary Tarr, John Ferguson, and Dan Orr as adult education teachers, Dennis Dwiggins as a driver’s education teacher, and Cassandra Byrum as a food service employee.
•Retirements were approved for teachers Jeanine Kay LeMaster, Stephen Sommerfield, Charyl Namovich, and Leslie Newton at the end of the 2011-2012 school year.
•Leaves of absence were approved for occupational therapist Cindy Fullenkamp, crossing guard Erin Davis, and teachers Judy Wellman, Janice Miller Donna Haffner, and Patti Michael.
•Extra-curricular assignments were approved for Rodney Craig and Jennifer Crum as archery coaches at West Jay Middle School, Amy Grady as a guard instructor at JCHS, Bill Bice as archery coach at East Jay Middle School, Dee Ramseyer as robotics coach at East Jay, Andrew Schmit as wrestling coach at East Jay, and Megan Price as volunteer swim coach at East Jay. The resignation of Doug Tipton as middle school robotics coach was accepted by the board.
•Field trips by cheerleaders, the German and French Clubs, a group of JCHS students, and the West Jay choirs were approved by the board.
•The resignation of Kim Shannon as an instructional assistant was accepted.[[In-content Ad]]