Long welcomes accountability

Accountability in the realm of public education isn’t going to go away. And that’s just fine with Jay Schools superintendent Tim Long.
“I believe in the accountability movement,” Long told the Jay County Chamber of Commerce monthly luncheon at Jay County Hospital Tuesday.
“You are your metrics,” he added. “Today, they do matter. Our school corporation competes with Carmel. … We need to be proud of that. Our schools are functioning well and the metrics say we are.”
Long noted that Jay Schools has been A-rated by the Indiana Department of Education ever since the rating system was established.
All Jay County schools are currently A-rated, and East Elementary School was honored Tuesday as a National Blue Ribbon School.
“This is just a great thing,” said Long.
Scores on standardized testing have risen consistently over the past several years.
“We have worked hard,” Long said, noting that today “teaching to the test” is the norm, not something to be avoided.
He noted serious challenges still lie ahead in areas such as finance, security and preparing students for an ever-changing work environment.
Enrollment is trending downward, while the percentage of students qualifying for free or reduced-cost lunches has risen. That’s not a situation unique to Jay Schools.
“That’s the reality of most rural counties,” said Long.
And because school boundaries have essentially been erased by the state, schools must compete for students.
“We’ve got to be more competitive,” he said, noting that each student enrolled represents about $6,000 in state funding. “We have to function a little bit like a business.”
State education policies in recent years have “changed and changed and changed,” said Long. “We have to react very quickly to those changes.”
One change locally has been the expansion of the Jay Schools pre-school program, which has grown from an enrollment of about 60 to more than 320.
Long praised the growth of the program, saying, “That’s the biggest investment this community can make in its future. I’m a big believer in pre-school.”
“Our world is continuing to change,” he added. “I think we’ve put the kids in Jay County in a very, very good position.”