January 23, 2018 at 3:48 a.m.
Ready to renovate
East, Shanks will see changes to accommodate new students
Ready to renovate
Copyright 2018, The Commercial Review
All Rights Reserved
A multi-million dollar project to prepare East and General Shanks elementaries for their new roles next year was set in motion Monday by Jay School Board.
With the closing of Judge Haynes Elementary School because of decreasing enrollment, plans call for East Elementary School to be reconfigured to a kindergarten through grade two facility and Shanks to become a grade three through five facility. Somewhere between $3 million and $5 million will be invested in those buildings to get them ready for next fall.
On a 6-0 vote with member Kristi Betts absent, the school board:
•Passed a resolution approving the work.
•Authorized board attorney Phil Frantz to go through the legal process of appraising the buildings.
•Agreed to hire the architectural firm of Barton-Coe-Vilamaa to develop designs and specifications for the project.
“School financing in Indiana is very complicated,” superintendent Jeremy Gulley told the board. “In order to assure that our buildings are quality, we have to invest in them.”
Following a public hearing that drew no comment, Gulley walked the board through the process that led to Monday’s decision. After 40 years of declining enrollment, Jay Schools now has 45 percent fewer students than it did in 1975.
“With the closure of Judge Haynes school, the two remaining Portland elementary schools must now be made to accommodate additional students,” said Gulley.
“Most of the work at East will be on the interior of the building,” he said.
Floor-to-ceiling walls will be constructed to create separate classrooms at East, which was originally an open concept school when it was constructed in 1975.
In addition, there will be plumbing and restroom changes, and school security will be dramatically upgraded.
Plans call for switching the locations of the school offices and library and creating sight lines in order to make for a more secure building.
At General Shanks, the offices will also be moved closer to the main entrance for security purposes. But most of the work at Shanks will involve the parking lot, which is already insufficient to handle parent and bus traffic.
“Our intent is to make it safer and more efficient,” Gulley said.
Parking lot work will also be part of the recipe for upgrades at East.
Details of the project will be developed over the next few months.
“They (architects) will be back in a week or two,” said Gulley.
If all goes smoothly, bids would be opened in late March, contracts awarded in April and the work completed over the course of the summer.
Gulley stressed that the $3 million to $5 million range will depend upon a number of decisions. “There will be options to bid these things,” he said.
The final price tag will be “no more than five” million.
“This will be a lease bond project,” he added.
Under that sort of arrangement — which has been used for most Jay Schools buildings — the building itself is owned by a corporation that issues bonds for the construction expense. The school system leases the building, with lease payments paying off the bonds over time.
Current long-term bond debt for the school corporation has been declining steadily and will be fully paid off by 2026. When compared with other school districts the same size, “we’re kind of in the middle of the pack” in terms of debt load, Gulley said.
Consolidation of local schools has come in the face of declining enrollment and the fact that state support for the general fund is directly tied to the size of the student population. The Pennville Elementary School building was closed at the end of the 2017 school year, and the Haynes building will close at the end of the current school year.
But there are indications that those tough choices are paying off.
Though general fund spending by Jay Schools was still in the red in 2017, the size of the deficit was cut in half for the second year in a row.
And current projections indicate that the tide is turning.
“Getting ahead of the game on school financing is really difficult,” Gulley told the board Monday. “But 2018 is looking like the year we go from red to black.”
Business manager Brad DeRome noted that the general fund deficit for 2017 was $77,954, leaving the school corporation with a year-end cash balance of $1,449,040.
DeRome noted that the total number of school employees has dropped from 500 to 466 from December 2016 to December 2017.
Meanwhile, a draft version of the corporation’s strategic plan calls for having a year-end cash balance of $2.1 million by the end of 2020 and sets a goal of having three consecutive years of positive cash flow.
That strategic plan, which has been worked on for months by school staff and school patrons, will be presented in final form to the board next month.
Among other things, the plan calls for “quality education that prepares every child to lead a full and productive life.”
The plan also sets a goal of becoming a “statewide leader in college and career-ready programs.” It proposes having e-learning capabilities on snow days by 2019, providing school registration online and extending the focus of the school system from pre-school through an associate’s degree or equivalent certification for a career.
In other business, the board:
•Learned that the graduation rate for Jay County High School last year was 95.9 percent, a historic high. That’s 8 points higher than the state average. But all Indiana high school graduation rates are expected to drop dramatically in the future because of changes made by the Indiana Department of Education in how the rate is calculated.
•Learned from DeRome that the 2018 budget certified by the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance was $33,786,411, with a tax rate that is virtually unchanged at 98.51 cents per $100 assessed valuation.
•Approved a memorandum of understanding with administrators that provides — in most cases — for a $300 raise in the base rate of pay, the same amount received by members of the teachers’ union. There were four exceptions. Three administrators whose contracts call for health insurance at $1 a year — DeRome, special education director Ann VanHorn and athletics director Steve Boozier — received no pay increase. There was also no pay increase for pre-school director Clif DeRome, because of a motion by board president Phil Ford.
•Approved a memorandum of understanding with support staff that calls for a 20 cent per hour pay increase.
•Accepted two donations from The Portland Foundation, one for $6,727.25 for the purchase of an equipment trailer and risers for the JCHS show choirs and one for $2,500 to fund travel to an agriculture leadership conference.
•Hired Bryce Davidson as a crossing guard, Toby Todd as an instructional assistance, Kay LeMaster as a library instructional assistant, Sheila VanSkyock as a kitchen manager and Linda Sheffer as a part-time cook.
•Accepted the retirement of band and music teacher Pete Vogler at the end of the current school year and the resignations of technology instructional assistant Pam Tebbe, cook Linda Castle, instructional assistant Jane Landers and bus mechanic Mitchell Corwin.
•Approved leaves of absence for instructional assistant Holly Knight, special education director Ann VanHorn, physical education teacher Cassie Right and East Jay Middle School principal Fred Medler.
•Approved extracurricular assignments for Terry Hartley as an archery coach, Kendra Harris as a Best Buddies sponsor, Laura Collins as a sixth grade boys’ basketball coach, Fred Medler as a sixth grade boys’ basketball coach, Amber Willoughby as a seventh grade girls’ basketball coach, Shannon Current as a track coach and Violet Current as a track coach.
•Accepted the extracurricular resignation of Andrea Hodson as Best Buddies sponsor at JCHS.
•Approved field trips by JCHS ag and manufacturing students to the Hobart Institute of Welding, JCHS FFA students to a leadership development workshop in Washington, FFA students to horse judging at the state fairgrounds and German students to a skiing trip.
•Approved a bus request by the Jay Community Center.
All Rights Reserved
A multi-million dollar project to prepare East and General Shanks elementaries for their new roles next year was set in motion Monday by Jay School Board.
With the closing of Judge Haynes Elementary School because of decreasing enrollment, plans call for East Elementary School to be reconfigured to a kindergarten through grade two facility and Shanks to become a grade three through five facility. Somewhere between $3 million and $5 million will be invested in those buildings to get them ready for next fall.
On a 6-0 vote with member Kristi Betts absent, the school board:
•Passed a resolution approving the work.
•Authorized board attorney Phil Frantz to go through the legal process of appraising the buildings.
•Agreed to hire the architectural firm of Barton-Coe-Vilamaa to develop designs and specifications for the project.
“School financing in Indiana is very complicated,” superintendent Jeremy Gulley told the board. “In order to assure that our buildings are quality, we have to invest in them.”
Following a public hearing that drew no comment, Gulley walked the board through the process that led to Monday’s decision. After 40 years of declining enrollment, Jay Schools now has 45 percent fewer students than it did in 1975.
“With the closure of Judge Haynes school, the two remaining Portland elementary schools must now be made to accommodate additional students,” said Gulley.
“Most of the work at East will be on the interior of the building,” he said.
Floor-to-ceiling walls will be constructed to create separate classrooms at East, which was originally an open concept school when it was constructed in 1975.
In addition, there will be plumbing and restroom changes, and school security will be dramatically upgraded.
Plans call for switching the locations of the school offices and library and creating sight lines in order to make for a more secure building.
At General Shanks, the offices will also be moved closer to the main entrance for security purposes. But most of the work at Shanks will involve the parking lot, which is already insufficient to handle parent and bus traffic.
“Our intent is to make it safer and more efficient,” Gulley said.
Parking lot work will also be part of the recipe for upgrades at East.
Details of the project will be developed over the next few months.
“They (architects) will be back in a week or two,” said Gulley.
If all goes smoothly, bids would be opened in late March, contracts awarded in April and the work completed over the course of the summer.
Gulley stressed that the $3 million to $5 million range will depend upon a number of decisions. “There will be options to bid these things,” he said.
The final price tag will be “no more than five” million.
“This will be a lease bond project,” he added.
Under that sort of arrangement — which has been used for most Jay Schools buildings — the building itself is owned by a corporation that issues bonds for the construction expense. The school system leases the building, with lease payments paying off the bonds over time.
Current long-term bond debt for the school corporation has been declining steadily and will be fully paid off by 2026. When compared with other school districts the same size, “we’re kind of in the middle of the pack” in terms of debt load, Gulley said.
Consolidation of local schools has come in the face of declining enrollment and the fact that state support for the general fund is directly tied to the size of the student population. The Pennville Elementary School building was closed at the end of the 2017 school year, and the Haynes building will close at the end of the current school year.
But there are indications that those tough choices are paying off.
Though general fund spending by Jay Schools was still in the red in 2017, the size of the deficit was cut in half for the second year in a row.
And current projections indicate that the tide is turning.
“Getting ahead of the game on school financing is really difficult,” Gulley told the board Monday. “But 2018 is looking like the year we go from red to black.”
Business manager Brad DeRome noted that the general fund deficit for 2017 was $77,954, leaving the school corporation with a year-end cash balance of $1,449,040.
DeRome noted that the total number of school employees has dropped from 500 to 466 from December 2016 to December 2017.
Meanwhile, a draft version of the corporation’s strategic plan calls for having a year-end cash balance of $2.1 million by the end of 2020 and sets a goal of having three consecutive years of positive cash flow.
That strategic plan, which has been worked on for months by school staff and school patrons, will be presented in final form to the board next month.
Among other things, the plan calls for “quality education that prepares every child to lead a full and productive life.”
The plan also sets a goal of becoming a “statewide leader in college and career-ready programs.” It proposes having e-learning capabilities on snow days by 2019, providing school registration online and extending the focus of the school system from pre-school through an associate’s degree or equivalent certification for a career.
In other business, the board:
•Learned that the graduation rate for Jay County High School last year was 95.9 percent, a historic high. That’s 8 points higher than the state average. But all Indiana high school graduation rates are expected to drop dramatically in the future because of changes made by the Indiana Department of Education in how the rate is calculated.
•Learned from DeRome that the 2018 budget certified by the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance was $33,786,411, with a tax rate that is virtually unchanged at 98.51 cents per $100 assessed valuation.
•Approved a memorandum of understanding with administrators that provides — in most cases — for a $300 raise in the base rate of pay, the same amount received by members of the teachers’ union. There were four exceptions. Three administrators whose contracts call for health insurance at $1 a year — DeRome, special education director Ann VanHorn and athletics director Steve Boozier — received no pay increase. There was also no pay increase for pre-school director Clif DeRome, because of a motion by board president Phil Ford.
•Approved a memorandum of understanding with support staff that calls for a 20 cent per hour pay increase.
•Accepted two donations from The Portland Foundation, one for $6,727.25 for the purchase of an equipment trailer and risers for the JCHS show choirs and one for $2,500 to fund travel to an agriculture leadership conference.
•Hired Bryce Davidson as a crossing guard, Toby Todd as an instructional assistance, Kay LeMaster as a library instructional assistant, Sheila VanSkyock as a kitchen manager and Linda Sheffer as a part-time cook.
•Accepted the retirement of band and music teacher Pete Vogler at the end of the current school year and the resignations of technology instructional assistant Pam Tebbe, cook Linda Castle, instructional assistant Jane Landers and bus mechanic Mitchell Corwin.
•Approved leaves of absence for instructional assistant Holly Knight, special education director Ann VanHorn, physical education teacher Cassie Right and East Jay Middle School principal Fred Medler.
•Approved extracurricular assignments for Terry Hartley as an archery coach, Kendra Harris as a Best Buddies sponsor, Laura Collins as a sixth grade boys’ basketball coach, Fred Medler as a sixth grade boys’ basketball coach, Amber Willoughby as a seventh grade girls’ basketball coach, Shannon Current as a track coach and Violet Current as a track coach.
•Accepted the extracurricular resignation of Andrea Hodson as Best Buddies sponsor at JCHS.
•Approved field trips by JCHS ag and manufacturing students to the Hobart Institute of Welding, JCHS FFA students to a leadership development workshop in Washington, FFA students to horse judging at the state fairgrounds and German students to a skiing trip.
•Approved a bus request by the Jay Community Center.
Top Stories
9/11 NEVER FORGET Mobile Exhibit
Chartwells marketing
September 17, 2024 7:36 a.m.
Events
250 X 250 AD