Ford named JCHS AD (8/3/04)

PORTLAND — If you haven’t looked at a Ford lately ... look again. The Jay School Board did.

Five years after leaving the post, Phil Ford was approved by a 6-1 vote at the board’s special meeting Monday to serve a second stint as the Jay County High School athletics director/assistant principal.

Ford, 54, Dunkirk, who left JCHS to take the same position at Wes-Del in 1999, said he is ready to come home.

“I think there’s a change in the atmosphere here from what it was five years ago in terms of the leadership,” said the Dunkirk High School graduate, who worked in the Jay School Corporation from 1976 to 1999. “These are my roots. My family is from here. There was a natural attraction to it.

“The atmosphere is much more positive now.”

Ford, who was born in Jay County and has lived here for all but three years of his life, served as a chemistry and biology teacher, an administrative assistant, the assistant principal/dean of students and the assistant principal/athletics director at JCHS before leaving for Wes-Del.

His wife, Jill, has taught at Pennville Elementary School since 1976. His sons, Jonathan, 26, and Joshua, 23, are both JCHS graduates.

Board member Bryan Alexander, who was on the seven-person selection committee, said it was obvious Ford was the man for the job.

“I think Phil brings a wide breadth of experience to the job,” Alexander said. “Through the interview process I think he really stood out as the clear person for us to select.

“I think he’s going to have the immediate respect of the staff. I think that’s very important.”

Board president Doug Inman cast the lone vote against Ford, saying he had “concerns.” He would not elaborate.

Ford was selected from a group of 15 applicants for the position, which came open in July when Brad Lindsay resigned to become the principal at Triton Central School. Lindsay had been the AD/assistant principal for three years.

Five applicants were interviewed, and Ford was recommended by a committee which was made up of Jay Schools superintendent Barbara Downing, JCHS principal Wood Barwick, three school board members and two school employees. He received a two-year contract at $68,000 per year, and his tenure will officially begin Friday.

“Phil Ford had the most experience,” said Barwick. “He knows Jay County High School and Jay County High School athletics.”

“He was our best applicant,” agreed Downing. “He seemed to have the expertise and experience to take us forward for many years to come.”

Ford said he will spend his first weeks re-familiarizing himself with the job and getting ready for the fall season. But, there is one problem he and Alexander both said will be a key concern: the future of the Olympic Athletic Conference.

The OAC is down to four teams as Huntington North leaves to join the North Central Conference this year. That leaves behind Connersville, Muncie Southside, Anderson Highland and Jay County as members of the conference with the fewest teams in the state.

The remaining conference members have had trouble attracting new members because their high enrollment numbers. JCHS and Connersville also present travel time issues.

“The big thing in Jay County obviously is we’re down to a four-team conference,” said Ford. “For all intents and purposes, a four-team conference is a non-conference. So, you’ve got to start looking at what’s available.

“I think that’s probably the biggest challenge.”[[In-content Ad]]