Schools shifting to 3-day plan for service

Innovation.

Continuous improvement.

Those have been Jay School Corporation’s goals for its food distribution with schools closed.

To that end, Jay Schools superintendent Jeremy Gulley today rolled out an updated plan for meal delivery and pick-up next week.

That system is as follows:

Wednesday — Bulk food (five breakfasts and five lunches) distributed to “Group A” rural students via bus routes.

Thursday — Bulk food (five breakfasts and five lunches) distributed to “Group B” rural students via bus routes.

(Those groups are broken down by bus number, with a guide available at bit.ly/JCruralroutes for families to see what day they should expect food to be delivered.)

Friday — Bulk food (five breakfasts and five lunches) available for in-town pick-up from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at East Jay Middle School, Westlawn and Redkey Elementary Schools and the former Pennville Elementary School

Jay County High School will continue to be the back-up site for those who are missed or unavailable during the day from 5 to 6 p.m Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

The change to a three-day system, in large part, is to give staff time to do the work that is necessary behind the scenes.

“That lets the food system catch up, the food prep, the distribution,” said Gulley. “We’re still dependent on suppliers and the ability to get shipments in and give time for food service to prep them, package them, and then transportation to distribute.”

Those who are missed on delivery or do not get food on in-town pick-up are asked to fill out a form on the Jay Schools website. The corporation is working with Glad Tidings Church (Dunkirk), Faith Community Church (Pennville), Redkey Fun for Kidz, The Rock Church (Portland) and Holy Trinity Catholic Church (Bryant) to catch up on food delivery for those students.

“The big thing is, we cannot do this on our own,” said Gulley in thanking those churches and community organizations for stepping up to help.

Gulley emphasized Friday that school meals are intended for students, noting that the number of meals picked up at in-town sites went up significantly Friday. Some sites ran out of food, leading to an additional 197 meals being distributed Friday evening at Jay County High School.



After no classes were held this week, Jay School Corporation students will return to e-learning Monday. The corporation has an alternating schedule of e-learning and waiver days slated through May 1, except for Good Friday (already scheduled as a day off). Jay Schools were originally planned to be off until April 13, but Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb last week mandated that all schools in the state would be closed until May.

Fort Recovery Local Schools will celebrate virtual spirit week beginning Monday. Students and parents are invited to participate in various activities — pajama day (Monday), bring your pet to school day (Tuesday), USA day (Wednesday), reading day (Thursday) and spirit day (Friday) — and share pictures and videos on social media using the hashtag #frlsspiritweek.

United Way of Jay County announced an additional food distribution date for April in partnership with Second Harvest Food Bank. A food tailgate is set for 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday. Another tailgate is scheduled for April 15.