Teacher can't save position

A second-year teacher lost his bid to save his job with the Jay School Corporation Friday.

On a 5-0 vote, school board members approved a recommendation by Superintendent Tim Long and Jay County High School principal Phil Ford not to renew the teaching contract of Brent Burkheimer.

Board president Bryan Alexander was absent from Friday's special meeting, and board member Michael Masters had missed Monday's public conference on Burkheimer's contract so was not eligible to vote.

Burkheimer had requested the conference after Ford recommended that he not be renewed as a vocational arts teacher at JCHS, citing Burkheimer's failure to maintain a positive learning environment and failure to maintain control of his classroom.

Burkheimer contested the second point, saying there had never been an incident when he failed to maintain order in his class.

At Monday's public conference, he also said that the unsatisfactory evaluation came as a surprise after a series of satisfactory evaluations.

"I was not aware that I was not measuring up," he said Monday. "I don't understand why there wasn't more communication."

A motion in support of Long's recommendation failed Monday for lack of a second. Under state law, the board was required to act within 10 days of the public conference, which led to Friday afternoon's special meeting.

Board members voted on the issue without comment Friday, but board member Jim Sanders thanked the board for not acting hastily.

"I really do appreciate the board taking some time on this matter," Sanders said.

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