Let’s try to keep block scheduling

To the editor:

I am in favor of keeping block scheduling at Jay County High School.

I taught high school for 46 years and experienced both block scheduling and traditional scheduling.

High school students would graduate with 56 credits under traditional scheduling, and if they wanted to retake a class to raise their grade or make up a failed grade, it would further lower their chances to take elective classes. The enrollment in vocational classes, music, art, physical education and work study courses would drastically drop.  With block scheduling, students would have a chance to receive 80 credits and their workload on a daily basis would drop from seven classes to five classes per day.

I have been a township trustee for many years and have been involved in assessing township residents as well as developing township budgets. I am aware of how to set levies (amount of tax you pay) and agree that with block scheduling it would raise taxes. Either way, our taxes will go up. For the proposed construction project at Jay County High School, it is a choice of a levy increase of 18 cents versus a 9-cent levy increase.

I am also a farmer and pay taxes. I am willing to pay $2.90 more per acre (18 cents per $100 assessed value) to pay for construction costs to create enough classrooms at JCHS allow block scheduling for high school and middle school students. By 2026, we will pay off debt that accounts for 38 cents per $100 of assessment and our levy will drop below what we are paying now.

I encourage Jay School Board and the residents of Jay County to consider the consequences of dropping block scheduling to save approximately 10 cents of increased taxes for the construction work.

I understand that a study showed that Jay Schools cannot afford block scheduling long-term, regardless of the immediate cost of construction, because of the additional staff it requires. But, I think we need to make sure we have looked at every option possible in order to keep block scheduling in place.

If there is no fiscally feasible way to keeping block scheduling, then it is imperative to do those things to keep as many elective courses as possible as well as keeping well-qualified, effective teachers.

Let’s keep Jay County schools a place where our young people can compete by getting the best possible education, not the lowest-cost education.

Bob Lyons

Rural Portland