West Jay work OK'd, deferred

Yes — but not now.
That’s the position of the Jay School Board when it comes to replacing the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system at West Jay Middle School.
While board members voted 6-0 to move forward with the project, the board decided on a 5-1 vote to postpone the work for two years when retirement of a bond issue would reduce the school corporation’s overall indebtedness.
Board member Mike Shannon opposed the delay, and board member Larry Paxson was absent from Monday’s meeting.
The key question is how to finance the work, which all board members agree is needed. The West Jay building is 30 years old, and while the system was well-designed for its time, a cooling tower at the school is showing its age and could fail.
Three other HVAC projects taken on in the past two years have been paid for using what is known as Section 516 financing, which allows school corporations to take out a bank loan and pay it off over time using a portion of the capital projects fund. The benefit of such financing is that it allows school systems to “smooth out” the impact of construction costs over a period of years.
Jay Schools has a capital projects fund of about $3 million a year, and currently $180,000 of that is dedicated annually to paying off the Section 516 loans for the three elementary school HVAC projects.
The alternative, which has attracted support on the board, would be to phase-in the work over a period of years. But because the work can’t be divided into equal pieces, that method has the potential to cause spikes in spending that would put pressure on the available capital project dollars.
Superintendent Tim Long has been a proponent of Section 516 financing, but several board members have expressed opposition to any further increase in borrowing.
“It’s better to do it in one fell swoop,” said Long. Phasing-in “complicates what you’re trying to get done.”
Board member Mike Masters countered, “In a perfect world, it’s not a good idea to piece it in. But I’m also not in favor of increasing the debt.”
“The only vote I’m voting on tonight is to postpone,” said board president Greg Wellman.
“We say we want to do it. We didn’t say now or five years from now,” said board member Jim Sanders, who has been a critic of Section 516 financing. Sanders first pressed for phasing the work in but withdrew his original motion amid some confusion.
Shannon was the sole board member present who pushed for going ahead with the work and budgeting capital project dollars to pay for it over time.
“It’s still slicing the bread with the same knife,” said Shannon. “If we go with a 516 we have stable numbers,” noting that there would be no increased burden on taxpayers by using the CPF fund to pay off the loan.
Wellman expressed hope that by 2014 or 2015 when a pension bond issue is paid off that the total indebtedness of the school corporation will make financing more palatable.
Left undecided by the board was what the HVAC work at West Jay will look like.
John Rigsbee of CSO Architects and Woody Holm of Stair Associates outlined two different options.
One, which would replace the current system that uses a cooling tower, would cost an estimated $1,443,855.
The second option would build a geothermal field at the north end of the West Jay property, creating a closed-loop system with greater energy efficiency. Holm estimated the cost of that option at $1,605,170 but said that with projected annual savings of $11,746.48 the greater investment would be paid back in less than 14 years.
“Our preference is the long-term viability of the geothermal system,” said Holm.
Board member Ron Laux strongly agreed. “Option 2 is the only option,” he said. “The efficiencies are there.”
But with deferral of the project, neither option was selected.
“The system,” Rigsbee warned, “is at the end of its effective life.”
In other business, the board:
• Approved on a 6-0 vote a memorandum of understanding with the Jay Classroom Teachers Association that extends an early retirement incentive program funded by federal stimulus dollars. Under the program, teacher who meet eligibility requirements will receive a $15,000 payment into their VEBA retirement account as an incentive to retire. Teachers who receive the incentive may donate up to 20 days of their accumulated sick pay into the sick pay bank for other teachers.
• Heard a report from General Shanks Elementary School principal Craig Campbell and Eric Bowman on the use of a “data wall” to track individual student performance. “We can identify directly at a glance which students we need to be targeting,” said Campbell. The system is in place in two Jay schools so far and will be incorporated in all of them eventually.
• Heard a request from Richard Gierhart for the school corporation to have senior citizen discount prices for school events.
• Received updates from Long on the JCHS annex at John Jay Center for Learning, the increased use of Internet classes for college credit at the high school, international exchange programs, and the volume of use of the JCHS auxiliary gymnasium.
• Agreed to waive rental fees of the auxiliary gym for the Jay County Chamber of Commerce Expo event in 2012.
• Received an outline of potential spending reductions from Long for the next few years, depending upon possible changes in state support.
• Posted five more goals on the wall of the board room. They are: Maintaining the “exemplary” status from the state for the school corporation, having more schools pass the adequate yearly progress standard in the coming year, maintaining a positive cash balance in the general fund, reviewing staff buyouts and health insurance in search of more savings, and completing a national training and professional development program.
• Accepted a $300 donation from the Jay County Historical Society to the high school robotics program.
• Heard DeRome report that a recent auction of surplus equipment netted more than $30,000.
• Hired Dennis Dwiggins as a driver’s education teacher, Shirley Hall as a part-time data specialist, Cathy Stephens as merit pay and evaluation system specialist, Trent Paxson as Title 1 program officer, Elaine Foster as a special needs bus aide, Brad Smith as a second shift custodian, and Camille Segraves as a cook.
• Accepted the resignation of Debbie Towell as a food service employee.
•Approved a leave of absence for bus garage employee Esther Shaneyfelt.
• Approve extracurricular assignments for Kyle Love for the robotics program, Tonya McCoy as assistant gymnastics coach at JCHS, Lora Schlosser as head gymnastics coach at JCHS, Ryan Steinbrunner as assistant boys’ golf coach at JCS, Rod Ashman as JV boys’ basketball coach at JCHS, Andy Pfeifer as assistant wrestling coach at JCHS, Ryan VanSkyock as freshman boys’ basketball coach, assistant softball volunteer coach, and robotics volunteer coach at JCHS, Tiffany Mathias as assistant girls’ swim coach at JCHS, Leah Smith as sixth grade girls’ basketball coach at East Jay Middle School, Deidre Rosenbeck as seventh grade girls’ basketball coach at East Jay, Chelsea Brunswick as sixth grade girls’ basketball coach at West Jay, Tom Crouch as eighth grade girls’ basketball coach at West Jay, Matt Weaver as sixth grade girls’ basketball coach at West Jay, Terry Bantz as eighth grade boys’ basketball coach at West Jay, James Roberts III as seventh grade boys’ basketball coach at West Jay, Josh Stultz as sixth grade boys’ basketball coach at West Jay, Dru Mercer as elementary boys’ basketball coach at Bloomfield Elementary School, Stacie Southworth as elementary cheer coach at General Shanks, Donald Gillespie as boys’ basketball coach at Judge Haynes Elementary School, Lisa Weitzel as girls’ basketball coach at Judge Haynes, and Josh Shatto as volunteer assistant baseball coach at JCHS.
• Accepted the extracurricular resignations of Erica Tomano as sixth grade girls’ basketball coach at East Jay and Dee Ramseyer for the middle school robotics program.
• Approved field trips by the foreign language clubs to Kings Island, the French Class to Wright State University, ag students to the FFA Leadership Center, JCHS cheerleaders to Wandering Wheels Lodge, fourth and fifth grade gifted and talented classes to the Henry Ford Museum, and the East Jay seventh grade to Cedar Point.
• Approved bus requests by the Jay County Boys and Girls Clubs.[[In-content Ad]]