Moving board election pitched (5/25/04)

Election day may be moving for the Jay School Board.

Board members unanimously agreed Monday to have school corporation attorney Phil Frantz draft a resolution which — if approved — would set in motion the process of moving school board elections from May to November.

Board president Duane Starr floated the idea Monday, citing concerns about low voter turnout when school board elections are held in conjunction with party primaries. Starr also noted that new board members taking office July 1 find themselves tossed immediately into a complex budget process.

“This is by far the largest taxing entity in Jay County,” Starr said, suggesting that new board members often feel overwhelmed when confronted with a $20 million budget.

“I like the idea from the budget standpoint,” said Jay Halstead of Starr’s proposal.

Frantz said state officials have told him many other school corporations have made the same change. The process, he said, takes seven to eight months. It includes a 120-day waiting period for public comment and requires Indiana Department of Education approval.

If approved, the change would extend the terms of those on the board by six months to make the calendar adjustment.

Board members were less than unanimous on several other issues Monday, including:

• A resolution calling for a balanced school budget.

• The hiring of a new girls basketball coach.

• And a new memorandum of understanding with school administrators.

Board member Ted Champ cast the single dissenting vote on the balanced budget resolution, saying he didn’t think it was necessary. A similar resolution was approved last year, and superintendent Barbara Downing said she thought it was a part of board policy.

“We don’t need it,” said Champ. “I trust these (administrators). They do a great job.”

“What’s the difference?” asked board member Frank Vormohr. “All you’re doing here is saying you’re still committed to it ... The public knows we’re going to sit here and look at every dime.”

Starr added, “I think it’s just renewal of a commitment made last year.”

Champ was also the sole dissenter on the hiring of Portland resident Kirk Comer as the new varsity girls basketball coach for Jay County High School. But he made it clear his opposition was a protest over the way the board handled the removal of seven-year coach Lea Selvey in April.

Comer, 39, has coached the past five years at Union City High School, where his teams captured four sectional championships and made one trip to the semi-state.

Also Monday, board members unanimously approved the hiring of Huntington North geography teacher Sean McConnell as assistant principal at East Jay Middle School.

McConnell, 37, holds a bachelor’s degree in history and a master’s degree in educational administration, both from Ball State University. Prior to teaching at Huntington North, he taught at the alternative school in Huntington where he was also building administrator and worked with the probation department. He completed administrative internships at Riverview Middle School and Huntington North High School.

A revision to the memorandum of understanding with school administrators also divided the board.

“I can’t support this,” said board member Bryan Alexander, who said the changes amounted to a second raise for administrators this year.

Downing, who presented the memorandum, said it was changed to reflect the retirement buyout plan which was included in the new contract with the Jay Classroom Teachers Association.

“This is a huge concession” for administrators, Downing said of the buyout plan. “The salary raise ($2,000) is only a small part of what they are giving up.”

Downing herself is covered by a separate agreement and was not part of the memorandum approved Monday night by a 6-1 vote.

Champ used the occasion to call for a pay increase for the school system’s support staff. “These people deserve a good raise. We haven’t caught up from when we were broke,” he said.

“They will receive raises,” said Downing, although she noted support staff will not be part of any retirement benefit buyout.

School board members were unanimous in approving textbook rental charges and fees for the 2004-05 school year.

Fees for the coming year for elementary school students are as follows: Kindergarten $60; first grade $135; second grade $123; third grade $114; fourth grade $105; and fifth grade $108.

Middle school and high school fees depend upon the courses individual students take.

A complete, detailed listing of textbook rentals and fees will be published in The Commercial Review this summer.

School lunches, latch-key fees and pre-school charges also will go up as a result of unanimous board action Monday.

School lunch charges will be as follows: Elementary $1.60; middle school $1.70; high school $1.85; student breakfast $1.05; adult breakfast $1.35; a la carte milk 40 cents; and adult lunch $2.35. There is no change in reduced price meals for qualified students; those are set by the U.S. Department of Agriculture at 40 cents for lunch and 30 cents for breakfast.

“We have not had an increase in three years,” said Brad DeRome, school corporation business manager.

Latch-key prices will be as follows: A $10 registration fee for the first child with a $5 registration fee for each additional child; standard rate of $2 per hour for the first child and $1.75 per hour for each additional child; for children qualified for the reduced price lunch, $1.50 per hour for the first child and $1.25 per hour for each additional child; for children qualified for free lunch, $1.25 per hour for the first child and $1 per hour for each additional child. This represents a 25 cent per hour increase.

Pre-school fees were increased to $25 per semester per child, up $5 from the previous year.

In other business, the board:

•Approved the school district’s revised science curriculum as presented by a committee of teachers and administrators. “We’ve got a local document that matches up pretty well with the standards the state wants us to teach,” Westlawn Elementary School principal Gary Storie told the board.

•Accepted the resignation of Larry Paxson as principal of East Elementary School effective at the end of the 2004-05 school year and the retirement resignation of Bloomfield Elementary School custodian Charles Brunswick effective May 31.

•Approved leave requests for Susan Brown, an instructional assistant at East Jay Middle School; James Vermillion, a bus driver; and Judith Alig, a food service employee at JCHS.

•Approved extracurricular contracts for Bev Arnold as assistant boys swim coach and Barry Weaver as assistant girls swim coach at JCHS.

•Approved fourth-cycle driver education contracts for Dennis Dwiggins and Ted Habegger.

•Approved adult basic education summer teacher contracts for Dana McClung.

•Approved summer school contracts for Dwiggins, Habegger, Dave Humbert, Sharon Newman, Kelly Smeltzer, Pete Vogler and Ed Bennett.

•Authorized field trips by the JCHS foreign language clubs to Cedar Point Amusement Park and the West Jay Middle School newspaper staff to Six Flags Amusement Park.

•Granted requests for the use of school corporation buses by Zion Early Learning Center, the Jay County Summer Swim Club, the Penn Husky Hoosier 4-H Club, the Jay County Horse and Pony Club, the Portland High School Alumni Association, the Jay County 4-H Shooting Sports Club and the Wapehani Girl Scouts.

•Accepted a donation of $500 from Wal-Mart to East Elementary for a landscaping and science project and a donation of $4,500 from the Drug Prevention Coalition for academic tutoring.

•Agreed to contract with Adams Counseling and Assessment for counseling services related to special education students at a cost of $60 per hour for about 12 hours of counseling per week.

• Approved a contract with Health Strategies to provide an athletic trainer at JCHS sports events at a cost of $8,734, an increase of $1,500 over the current school year.

•Approved the student handbook for JCHS to reflect annual revisions.

•Appointed Linda Frantz to a four-year term on the board of trustees of the Jay County Public Library.

•Authorized the use of school facilities as emergency shelters by the American Red Cross in the event of a natural disaster.

•Accepted a number of extracurricular resignations including Sherry Roberts as Just Say No Club sponsor at Judge Haynes Elementary, Larry Wilson as boys basketball coach at Pennville Elementary, Jill Ford as girls basketball coach at Pennville, Jennifer Johnson as student council sponsor at Westlawn, Diana Keesling as Just Say No Club sponsor at Westlawn, Dawn Klatt as middle school team leader at EJMS, Michael Smith as Just Say No Club sponsor at EJMS, and Donna White as honor society sponsor at WJMS.

•Heard Downing report that negotiations with the JCTA on next year’s contract may begin in June.

•Heard Downing re-appoint herself to another term on the board of the John Jay Center for Learning.[[In-content Ad]]