Council to pay for test

Jay County Council approved paying for two rounds of WorkKeys testing for Jay County High School students.
Principal Chad Dodd and director of teacher effectiveness Jeremy Gulley told council Wednesday why they feel the assessment is beneficial before council approved an $11,800 expenditure from the economic development income tax (EDIT) fund.
The test, developed by American College Testing (ACT) and administered by WorkOne, will help make Jay County a “work-ready community,” Gulley said.
“Not every kid’s going to go straight to a four-year degree. Not every kid should,” Gulley said. “There’s a lot of good jobs with a little bit of skill and education, a little bit beyond high school, that can command a good wage.”
The test helps students, guidance counselors and employers know which of those jobs a student might be suited for.
In the fall, seniors took the assessment on a day when other grade levels were already occupied with state-required examinations or Ivy Tech’s Accuplacer test.
The school was “pretty pleased” with the results, Dodd said, but realized it would be more effective to test juniors in the fall, before they schedule their final year of classes.
“We might be able to better put them on a pathway that matched their interests, that would feed them into one of the jobs in our community,” Dodd said.
Council unanimously approved spending $4,800 to cover the seniors’ testing and $7,000 for testing next fall. Dodd and Gulley hope more students take it at that time. Of about 260 seniors, 205 took the WorkKeys assessment.
The test might help students who would otherwise be “lost” after high school and “jump from job to job to job,” council member Jeanne Houchins said.
The EDIT advisory committee had already supported paying for the testing, Jay County Development Corporation executive director
In other business, Mike Leonhard, Gary Theurer, Ted Champ, Cindy Newton, Mike Rockwell, Bob Vance and Houchins:
•Voted to keep Leonhard as president and Theurer as vice president for 2016.
•Made other appointments: East Central Indiana Regional Planning District, Leonhard; Community Corrections board, Champ; EDIT advisory committee, Champ, Houchins, Newton and Theurer; tax abatement advisory committee, Champ and Vance; Jay County Development Corporation board of directors, Rockwell and Vance; joint zoning board, Vance; personnel committee, Leonhard and Theurer; Plan Commission, Rockwell; road committee, Theurer; and Jay County Solid Waste District, Houchins.
•Appointed Richard Whitesell to the alcoholic beverage control board and Sandy Bubp to the Jay County Visitors and Tourism commission.