Pennville Elementary will close

Copyright 2017, The Commercial Review

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Pennville Elementary School will be closed at the end of the school year.

And a decision will be made no later than December on closing Judge Haynes Elementary School in 2018.

Jay School Board members made the emotional school-closing decision on a 6-1 vote Monday night at the recommendation of superintendent Jeremy Gulley.

Board member Mike Shannon cast the sole dissenting vote, saying that the problem of funding public schools needs to be addressed at the state level.

“None of us take this lightly,” board president Kristi Betts said through tears. “But we have to make a business decision.”

She wasn’t the only person crying.

Students, parents and staff at Pennville Elementary responded to the news grimly and with sobs of their own.

“The closing of Pennville Elementary is very emotional for us all,” said Gulley.

The possibility of school closings has been on the school board’s agenda for years thanks to changes in the state’s school funding formula and declining student enrollment.

Jay Schools has seen its enrollment drop by an average of 49 students annually for the past 10 years.

Meanwhile, deficit spending in the school corporation’s general fund seriously diminished the school system’s cash.

Business manager Brad DeRome told board members Cory Gundrum, Beth Krieg, Phil Ford, Ron Laux, Krista Muhlenkamp, Betts and Shannon that the general fund will have a negative cash flow of $384,000 this calendar year, leaving the general fund with a year-end cash balance of a projected $1,142,600, far below the level considered prudent.

“Reserves are limited,” Gulley reiterated.

Gulley, who took the reins as superintendent last fall after the retirement resignation of Tim Long, launched an effort to get budgets and spending under control in January.

Pennville, with its most recent enrollment figure at 84, has been a likely target for cost reduction for some time.

“We were on the chopping block immediately,” Pennville businesswoman Tammy Hanlin told the board Monday, voicing frustration that alternative ideas had not gotten the hearing she felt they deserved.

Pennville’s Joe Vinson had put forward a plan that would have kept the Pennville school open, would have closed Judge Haynes, would have shifted West Jay Middle School students to East Jay Middle School, would have closed the Westlawn Elementary School building and moved those students to the current West Jay building, and would have re-zoned elementary school districts in an attempt to get greater balance.

Gulley said Monday he had given the Vinson plan serious consideration and agreed that closing Judge Haynes, the oldest elementary building, could make sense if those students can be accommodated at other existing elementary classrooms without new construction. He expressed skepticism about the idea of consolidating middle school classrooms at East Jay, saying that in his opinion that would make more sense at Jay County High School.

He also was skeptical of Vinson’s estimates of private support that might be donated annually to help cover school operating costs.

“There is no precedent for generating this kind of revenue annually,” said Gulley.

In addition to closing Pennville and considering the closure of Judge Haynes, the board’s resolution also calls for the formation of a facility study committee to provide input and options for the long-term configuration of the buildings and facilities of the school corporation.

Prior to the vote, board members expressed appreciation to the Pennville community for stepping up and sharing their views. Hundreds of emails had been sent as well as countless contacts and conversations.

“I don’t know what else we could have done,” said Laux.

“I took each one of these (comments) to heart,” said Gundrum. “We care as a board. You guys care as a community.”

Both Betts and Ford, a retired school administrator and teacher, said it was important to consider the Pennville decision within the context of other cuts.

“I believe we’re doing a lot more things than just closing a school,” said Ford.

“We’re making lots and lots of cuts, with more to come,” said Betts.

Shannon, meanwhile, expressed frustration with Indiana’s lawmakers. The state’s budget has been balanced, he said, but it has been balanced on the back of Indiana public schools and their students.

“And that needs to stop,” he said.

DeRome said Monday that state support for Jay Schools is estimated to drop by $812,000 from the prior year because of enrollment drops and changes in funding for vocational and special education.

He noted more than a dozen cuts and cost shifts that have been made or are planned in an effort to ease the pressure on the general fund, including cuts in summer employment and travel. Over all, estimated spending for the general fund is expected to be down $581,000 when compared to the prior year. The headcount of school corporation employees has also been reduced, largely through attrition, to 496.

“We’re not done,” said DeRome.

It’s not immediately clear what impact the closing of Pennville Elementary will have on the school corporation’s total enrollment.

“You will absolutely lose students to other schools districts,” said Vinson. “It is no longer a matter of if but of how many. … If you choose to turn your back on the Pennville community, if Jay County chooses to turn their backs on anyone not in Portland, then you should expect no less in return.”

Hanlin told the board Pennville area residents are looking into establishing a charter school and have retained an attorney to provide legal advice related to the future of the current Pennville building, saying there is no interest in seeing the building become a community center.

“We are a rooted community,” she said. “We will move forward.”

She also said there have been discussions with Southern Wells Schools about having a bus pick up students at Fiat, 3 miles north of Pennville at the intersection of Indiana 1 and Indiana 18.

“The threat is real,” she said. “They want our students.”

Gulley, however, disputed that point, saying he had been in touch with his counterpart at Southern Wells. He had a letter, he said, in which the Southern Wells superintendent assured him, “We are not sending buses into other districts.”

Gulley acknowledged that Pennville staff will be unsettled by the decision to close the school.

“There will be many rumors and rumors of rumors,” he said. “You must be patient.”

Decisions on which employees will be affected by the closing will depend upon such factors as longevity and the classes teachers are licensed to teach.

In other business, the board:

•Accepted the retirement resignations of technology director Dennis Green, East Elementary principal Andy Schemenaur, East first grade teacher Linda Lowe, Bloomfield Elementary fourth grade teacher Linda Lacy, Pennville secretary Janet Park, Pennville night custodian Clyde Rogers and West Jay librarian Cathi Godfrey, as well as the resignation of Westlawn instructional assistant Joella Rinker.

•Approved leaves of absence for East kindergarten teacher Chelsea Brunswick and JCHS math teacher Krista Wellman; a contract for alternative educational services with The Crossing; and field trips by the JCHS cheerleaders and the JCHS Spanish class.

•OK’d extracurricular contracts for Patrick Byrum as assistant baseball coach at JCHS, Jonathan Winner as East Jay wrestling coach, Troy Jacks as East Jay assistant coach, Sarah Ullom as a guard coach, Leslie Schubert as a guard coach , Lee Schneider as assistant band director for half the summer, and Aaron Helm as assistant band director for half the summer.