School, town will remain strong

To the editor: After attending the Jay School Board meeting Monday, I heard a remark made that no letters from Pennville supporters had been written to the newspaper. Well, here is mine.

I worked at Pennville Elementary for 36 years and enjoyed most every minute of it. It was fun and an adventure with students and staff.

I also enjoyed talking with parents and others who came into our building. I might have been considered the public relations person, but our school has always wanted others to fee welcomed and I’m just a talker.

I always read the honor roll reports for West Jay Middle School and Jay County High School and am impressed with former Pennville students who continue to succeed. They had some great teachers and I think a feeling of security in our school that helped them to do well.

I feel that a decision to close our school has probably already been made. We’ve heard it for years and now it comes up again with a quick date targeted. This is all a continuation of former superintendent Tim Long’s desire to close our school. I feel that if a better rein had been put on spending during his time here, the financial issues may not be so great. We had too many “yes” people on the school board then.

I realize that declining enrollment in the corporation has an impact on the money received from the state, but that didn’t just start this school year. We have been going in a downward spiral for the last 10 years, and so now let’s close Pennville.

Barb Downing had Jay Schools in a good place financially when she stepped down as superintendent and the spending began to go crazy. Being an employee, you can’t or shouldn’t say much (even though I’m pretty outspoken), so I’d just shake my head and say what I considered more “wasted money.” We have different funds (like every other school corporation) where money is used for only certain things. The general fund takes a big hit just to pay teachers and support staff. We can’t get around that, but I hope that better planning on spending comes soon.

Like I said earlier, that decision is already made. I truly hope that the saying of “it’s all about the students” holds true. Let’s not take Pennville students and juggle them around in the next few years until a final plan is in place. Even though our school and town are small, we will always remain “Pennville strong.”

Mary Lou Frazee

Pennville