Bitter pills

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Some of the medicine will be painful.

“The fiscal health of our district is poor,” superintendent Jeremy Gulley told Jay School Board on Monday evening. “The patient is ill. I’ve asked the (budget control) committee to bring out all the medicine it can.”

Gulley likened the remedy to two pills. The first, which may very well require the closing of Pennville Elementary School, is intended to “make the patient better.”

“But if we do not see signs of change in the next 18 to 24 months,” Gulley said, a second pill will be required.

“I expect the second pill will be bitter. Probably more bitter than the first,” he said.

In other words, the potential of additional school closings and related reductions in teaching positions could lie ahead.

Gulley said he’s pleased with the work so far by the committee that has been charged with getting the school corporation’s fiscal house in order after years of declining enrollment and deficit spending.

He has met with principals at Westlawn, Redkey, Pennville and Bloomfield elementaries to discuss how Pennville’s students can be accommodated if that school closes at the end of this school year. At the moment, Gulley believes the students can be accommodated without any additional construction or transportation costs.

A survey will be going out to Pennville parents to determine their preferences for their children if the school closes. Gulley has also had “very preliminary” discussions with Jay County Development Corporation to explore having the Pennville building re-purposed as a community center.

The superintendent be meeting in the weeks ahead with principals at Judge Haynes, General Shanks and East elementaries to discuss how the students from Judge Haynes can be accommodated if that school is closed.

Gulley also said he has met with Joe Vinson, one of the leaders of the effort to keep Pennville Elementary School open, to review Vinson’s plan.

That plan would, in part, call for the closing of both Judge Haynes and Westlawn, the closing of the central office, and an end to the policy of open enrollment, returning to strict district school boundaries. Current policy allows families to choose the school a student will attend.

“I expect March will be a heavy month for the committee,” said Gulley.

He reiterated his belief that a decision on the fate of Pennville Elementary will be made next month.

“The overarching proposition is we expect to have less revenue,” Gulley said.

Business manager Brad DeRome underscored that point, telling the board he expects 2017 total revenues for the general fund to be down $648,300 from the prior year. DeRome said enrollment was 3,358 in February, down 21 from September. Meanwhile, there have been reductions in state funding for vocational education and special education.

Cuts in spending are already underway, DeRome said. He forecast total general fund spending to be down $416,700 from 2016 and said school corporation employment has been trimmed to 499.

“That has not happened since 2006,” Gulley said of the cuts in the number of employees.

Meeting in the Jay County High School commons, the board had expected a larger turnout after roughly 300 attended a special board meeting at Pennville a few weeks ago. About 40 people were on hand for Monday’s meeting.

In other business, the board:

•Approved participation in the federally-funded summer lunch program again this year. The program provides about 350 lunches per day over a seven-week period. Five sites — Pennville, Westlawn, Judge Haynes, Redkey, and General Shanks elementaries — are open to the public. The program also provides meals and snacks for the JCHS summer band program, the summer reading program at Jay County Public Library, Jay Community Center, life skills classrooms, the credit recovery program and John Jay Center for Learning.

•Appointed Bruce Stong to Dunkirk Public Library Board.

•Heard Gulley report on a recent visit to Jay Schools by Gov. Eric Holcomb.

•Formally accepted a $30,000 counseling grant for JCHS from the Lilly Endowment.

•Accepted the resignations of East Elementary kitchen manager Janet Dues, East Jay Middle School kitchen manager Angie Ingram and school bus aide Sabrina Corwin.

•Approved leaves of absence for special education teacher Sarah Cook, General Shanks principal Julie Gregg, Westlawn fourth grade teacher Holly Farr and Westlawn Reading Recovery teacher Christa Robinson.

•Approved extracurricular assignments for Diana Ullom as assistant girls’ track coach at JCHS and Tyler Newell as sixth grade girls’ basketball coach at East Jay.

•Authorized a field trip by the JCHS Latin Club to a state convention at Indiana University.

•Accepted a grant of $80,481.92 through the Indiana Department of Education for programs aimed at rural and low income students.