Board approves rates for ’16-17

The cost of lunch and Latchkey will both go up for the 2016-17 school year, as will pay for substitute bus drivers. The rate for substitute teachers is still up for discussion.
Jay School Board approved new rates and fees for a variety of services at its meeting Monday but tabled a decision on substitute teacher pay after talking about whether an increase would help get more interest.
The board also approved a project for paving a driveway at Jay County High School and discussed possible improvements in Jay Schools cafeterias.
Most of the rates and fees were approved without much discussion, with lunch prices going up 10 cents to keep them in line with federal minimums. The new prices will be $2.40 for elementary lunch; $2.65 for middle and high school lunch; $1.85 for student breakfast; $2.15 for adult breakfast; and $3.15 for adult lunch. The prices for milk and reduced breakfast and lunch saw no increases.
The cost of Latchkey will be $2.75 per hour, an increase of 25 cents per hour, and the pay rate for substitute bus drivers will be $62, an increase of $2 per day.
Fees for preschool, tutoring and after school detention and credit recovery remained the same.
But board members Kristi Betts, Greg Wellman, Beth Krieg, Mike Shannon, Tammy Bennett and Ron Laux, with Cory Gundrum absent, decided to wait on setting substitute teacher pay. It had been recommended for no change to the rate of $65 per day.
Given that administrators have expressed previously that it has been difficult to find substitute teachers, Shannon asked how that pay rate compares to other school systems in the area. Superintendent Tim Long noted that the board looked at surrounding rates about three years ago and increased pay at that time by $5. He added that his feeling is that another $5 per hour increase likely would not bring in more people.
“There’s a limited number of people we’re going to draw from,” said Long, while adding he would check into rates in other corporations and provide that information to the board.
The substitute rate for other area school districts are:
•Randolph Central (Winchester) — $70 for a retired teacher, $65 for everyone else.
•South Adams — $75 for a licensed teacher, $67 for everyone else.
•Fort Recovery (and all of Mercer County) — $80.
•Blackford — $60.
The board also approved a $52,734 paving project for the JCHS north access drive, which runs from the northeast corner of the school near the band room, past the tennis courts and softball field and exits onto county road 200 West.
Before doing so, they discussed whether there is a need for the speed bumps that are currently in place after Shannon said he had a phone call asking about the topic. Long responded, saying he doesn’t believe they are necessary.
“I don’t know that they slow anybody down,” he said. “At times, they tear up cars. … That’s my own personal opinion. I don’t like them, and I don’t think you ought to put them back on there.”
Shannon noted that he had learned a lesson from the speed bumps, having hit one while driving a bit too fast. But he also said he understands that they can cause maintenance issues because of the amount of bus traffic along that driveway.
Former JCHS principal Phil Ford offered his thoughts, saying removing the speed bumps would lead to a dangerous situation.
“I spent 34 years out there, and if you take those speed bumps out, you create a racetrack, not only before and after school but during events that are out there,” he said. “It may be a racetrack anyway, but you’re going to speed them up. … You increase, in my opinion, the chance of somebody getting hit, especially during after-school activities.”
The board moved forward with the project, asking business manager Brad DeRome to consult with the contractor — Milestone of Portland — about the possibility of putting speed bumps in place.
The parking lot that sits between the softball and soccer fields, also know as the driving range, will undergo $15,422 in repairs this summer.
Betts reported to the board about a visit to a Muncie Schools cafeteria she made along with food service director Karmella VanSkyock, JCHS assistant principal/dean James Myers, Long and several students. She told her fellow board members that the biggest difference she saw was in the presentation.
Though Muncie uses an outside contractor for its food service, it still orders most of its food from the same vendor as Jay County.
“About 95 percent of the things they were serving there is the same as what we serve,” said Long.
There may be opportunities to offer more variety on a daily basis simply by reorganizing the way the lunch lines are set up, Betts said. She added that VanSkyock would like to visit a Fort Wayne school’s cafeteria as well as she considers possible changes for 2016-17.
In other business, the board:
•Hired Ted Habegger and Dennis Dwiggins as driver education instructors and Marisa Moore as East Jay Middle School nurse; accepted the retirement of Spanish/math teacher Dave Golden and the resignations of part-time custodian James Nichols (West Jay Middle School), instructional assistants Erika Frazee (Jay County High School), Joni Ostrowski (East Jay Middle School) and Toni Gundrum (JCHS), special education teacher Catherine Berno (Judge Haynes Elementary) and crossing guard Terry Hale (East Elementary); and approved leaves of absence for teacher Lona Shuey (Bloomfield Elementary) and speech/language pathologist Beth Mathewson.
•Approved JCHS extra-curricular assignments for competition cheer coaches Abby Champ, Ashley Loucks and Kristen Selvey, assistant boys soccer coach Zach Fullenkamp, softball field coordinator Amy Hawbaker, assistant boys track coach Tom Leonhard, guard instructor Ric VanSkyock, assistant football coach Bill Back, freshman football coaches Terry Robbins and Charles Wood and Best Buddies sponsor Jennifer Harris, East Jay Middle School extra curricular assignments for cheer sponsor Olivia Cash, assistant cheer sponsor Shelby Pryor and academic team advisor Tavia Boolman and Bloomfield Elementary intramurals coordinator Josh Gibson. Also accepted extra-curricular resignations from assistant cheer sponsor Tavia Boolman (EJMS), Just Say No sponsor Jane Prescott (Redkey), Best Buddies sponsor Vickie Reitz (JCHS), intramurals coordinator Carrie Byrum (Bloomfield) and newspaper sponsor Dana Brown (EJMS).
•Was presented with the Patriot Award from Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve for its support of the Indiana National Guard.
•OK’d field trip requests for the JCHS foreign language clubs May 23 to Cedar Point, WJMS honor society May 24 to Cedar Point and the archery team May 12 to the National Archery Tournament in Louisville, Kentucky.
•Accepted donations of $17,278.33 from East Elementary PTO for playground equipment, $2,679.57 from a CenturyLink/Teachers and Technology Grant for Bloomfield Elementary computer equipment; $1,000 each from Wal-Mart and Jay County Solid Waste Management District for an outdoor classroom at Westlawn Elementary, $50 from Pennville Alumni to Pennville Elementary and Chromebooks for Pennville Elementary from an anonymous donor and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
•Approved textbooks for accounting and human and social services classes.
•Accepted an Indiana Early Literacy Intervention Grant of $53,931 from Indiana Department of Education.
•Rescheduled its next meeting for 6 p.m. June 6. It had originally been scheduled for June 20.
•Approved a memorandum of understanding with John Jay Center for Learning. The agreement is unchanged from the previous year.