Schools plan for full-day kindergarten (03/20/07)

As the Indiana Legislature considers whether to mandate full-day kindergarten, Jay School Corporation is planning for that possibility.

Indiana Senate Bill 0567 would require school corporations to offer full-day kindergarten programs for all students by the 2009-2010 school year. A phase-in program would begin in the 2007-08 school year for students who are eligible for free and reduced price lunches.

Jay School Corporation superintendent Tim Long told Jay School Board members Monday that if the bill passes, full-day kindergarten could begin in August at Westlawn, Pennville, East and Judge Haynes elementary schools because of their participation in the free and reduced price lunches program.

A administrative full-day kindergarten committee for the Jay School Corporation recently agreed that kindergarten teachers should create a standardized curriculum for students, Long said.

The committee also reported that Bloomfield and General Shanks schools would each need an additional room and Bloomfield and Judge Haynes schools would each need an additional kindergarten teacher if the bill becomes law.

Also Monday, board members discussed bids submitted to the school corporation for the gym roof and floor replacement projects at West Jay Middle School. The corporation received five bids for roof repair and two bids for the floor replacement project.

The apparent low bid for the roofing project was submitted by McGuff Roofing of Muncie at $97,700. Other bids were submitted by AAA Roofing Company of Indianapolis, CMS Roofing of Fort Wayne, Indianapolis Roofing of Indianapolis and Bebout.

For the flooring project, Cincinnati Floor of Indianapolis submitted the apparent low bid of $113,670. Kiefer Specialty Flooring of Illinois also submitted a bid.

The project is expected to begin in early April with the roof project being completed first.

Board members are scheduled to meet on April 4 at 5:15 p.m. to award contracts for the projects.

In other business, board members were told that demolition of the area for the new technology center will begin next week while students are out of school on spring break.

Also Monday, board members:

•Approved the purchase of a 2007 GMC chassis cab box truck for $23,659 from Ken Kunkle Chevrolet in Portland. This was the price after the corporation traded in its 1990 Isuzu/ GMC cargo box truck. This truck is used weekly for delivery of materials and supplies to school buildings and for the JCHS football team, band and vocational department.

Ken Kunkle Chevrolet submitted the low quote. Bids were also submitted by Moser Motors of Portland and Berne and General GMC of Muncie.

•Approved a request by the Jay County High School FFA and its agricultural advisory board to name the greenhouse and surrounding horticultural area at JCHS the Robert C. Lyons Horticultural Center.

Lyons was the founder of the Jay County FFA program, and organized a fund drive to build the greenhouse.

•Accepted the donation of four two-year-old Dell computers to Pennville Elementary from MainSource Bank.

•Approved the hiring of Tracy M. Hankins as an instructional assistant at JCHS, Jill Muhlenkamp for food service at Bloomfield Elementary, Laurie Muhlenkamp as head traveling nurse, Nancy Snyder as a traveling nurse and Mary Secor as a part-time traveling nurse and Emilie R. Boyes as a music teacher for Jay County Schools.

•Granted leave requests for Krista Muhlenkamp, Kristy Blalock and Kathy Ayers.

•Accepted a resignation for Carol Storie.

•Approved ECA recommendations for Derek Bailey as a volunteer at JCHS.

•Granted field trip requests for students in Spanish class to travel to New Bremen, Ohio on April 11, East and West Jay Middle Schools' students to travel to Washington D.C. from Nov. 14 to 18 and JCHS cheerleaders to travel to the University of Kentucky for cheerleading camp from July 15 to 18.[[In-content Ad]]Numbers are increasing.

The number of minutes a member of the public is allowed to speak went from three to five at Monday's Jay School Board meeting and the number of speakers grew to three.

Jay School Board president Bryan Alexander clarified Monday that according to the board's policy, public participation is limited to five minutes per person - not three as the board's agenda previously indicated.

Portland resident Michelle Hibbard told the board Monday that she was appalled by the way the school corporation handles special needs students.

She mentioned the way that her son is treated at JCHS and blamed the lack of knowledge and training by special needs teachers there. She also told the board that her son is harassed but is unable to identify the students because he is blind.

"I ask that the school board look at these problems," Hibbard pleaded with board members.

Hibbard's son Cody Robison, 18, a senior at JCHS, spoke after his mother.

"We are treated differently and we fight for every little thing that we get," Robison said. "The teachers sometimes talk to me slowly or loud. I am not deaf... It's makes for a frustrating school day."

Robison is wheelchair bound and has cerebral palsy.

Portland resident Elizabeth Nesbitt, who spoke several times at the board's February meeting - sometimes following board policy on public comment and sometimes not - told board members Monday that "Jay Schools are an abysmal mess."

Calling herself a healer, not a troublemaker, she told board members that there are some great teachers in the Jay School Corporation but there are also some "bad apples."

"I guess I was naive but I came here for you to say 'how can I help?'" Nesbitt said.

Alexander also indicated Monday that the public comment policy, approved in 2003, requires a person interested in speaking at a board meeting to submit their request to Jay School Corporation superintendent Tim Long at least seven days prior to the meeting.