Taking final shots

Jim Sanders did not go quietly.
Sanders, a persistent and vocal critic of superintendent Tim Long and the current administration of Jay Schools, used his final meeting as a board member to get in some parting shots.
His targets were the school corporation’s international education initiative and a recent building project at Jay County High School involving the FFA.
Sanders challenged business manager Brad DeRome about expenses in connection with a visit by a group of Chinese educators this fall. “I want explanations,” he said.
DeRome explained that the entire project was funded by the Chinese government and that the funds merely passed through Jay Schools accounts. No local dollars were involved.
“I can assure you we did receive the $44,000 upfront” (from the Chinese government), DeRome said.
But Sanders continued to rail about the program.
“I believe we have been deliberately misinformed,” Sanders said. “We’re not getting the whole stories.”
“In this particular case,” responded DeRome, “it was my feeling we had handled it properly.”
“You can always come in and look at the bills,” Long told Sanders.
Board member Mike Masters said the friction could have been avoided if there had been a separate breakout report on the income and expenses on the Chinese visit. “You know Jim has a problem with the program,” Masters told Long.
Sanders repeated his charge that the administration has misled the board when he reviewed the costs involved in a pole barn erected at JCHS for the vocational agriculture program.
The project had originally been estimated to cost $21,000, but the final price tag was $31,825. Meanwhile, FFA’s fund-raising efforts brought in $8,000, which was below the original expectation.
“We didn’t commit $23,000 to that project,” said Sanders. “It was supposed to cost us $21,000. I believe we’ve been deliberated misled, and I just think it’s horrible. … It was misleading all the way.”
“This administration has been transparent,” Long said this morning. “Our minutes are all open to public inspection.”
In response to the charges by Sanders, Long said, “The beautiful part of America is we have free speech. We also have elections, and the people have spoken.”
Sanders was defeated in his bid for re-election in November by Kristi Betts, who will take over the seat in January.
The board presented Sanders with a plaque in recognition of his service. “You did what you thought you needed to do while you were here,” said Masters.
In other business Monday, the board:
•Heard an update from DeRome on a recent classroom fire at West Jay Middle School. “It’s not the type of phone call you like to get,” said DeRome, crediting custodian Wes Romine and the Dunkirk Fire Department for their efforts in minimizing damage. State and local fire investigators have examined the site, but there has been no official determination of the cause.
•Appointed Jeremy Gulley to the board of John Jay Center for Learning and Joel Roberts to the board of the Jay County Public Library.
•Heard Long appoint board members Ron Laux, Mike Masters, and Beth Krieg to a committee that will continue to work with administrators and teachers on implementation of the RISE teacher evaluation system.
•Heard DeRome say that health insurance costs continue to be an issue for the school corporation. “Our benefit costs are running at about $200,000 higher than last year even though (total) salaries are slightly lower this year,” he said. “We expect the ending December cash balance in the general fund to be close to the $3.1 million beginning balance for the year. That would make us at the break-even mark.”
•Accepted the retirements of central office administrative assistant Linda Selvey and Westlawn Elementary School secretary Linda Hardwick effective later this school year. “That’s two great ladies we’re going to miss dearly,” said Masters.
•Hired Heather Younts as pre-school secretary at the central office.
•Accepted the resignation of Teresa Ainsworth as part-time library instructional assistant at East Elementary School.
•Approved leaves of absence for Amy Klopfenstein at General Shanks Elementary School and Sarah Cook at Bloomfield Elementary School.
•Approved extracurricular assignments for Annette Stultz, Larry Stultz, Violet Current, and Ryan VanSkyock as middle school track coaches at West Jay and Garrett Krieg and Bradley Horn as volunteer girls’ basketball coaches at JCHS.
•Approved travel to Italy, France, and Spain by a group of JCHS teachers and students next spring.
•Gave DeRome permission to make year-end accounting transfers and to void “stale” checks that have been outstanding for more than two years.[[In-content Ad]]