Board reviews closing questions

The “if” question will be answered Dec. 11.

Jay School Board members and administrators focused Monday night on the “how” questions.

The board has set a December deadline to decide on whether to close Judge Haynes Elementary School, but figuring out how to accommodate those students at East and General Shanks elementaries is another question entirely.

Shanks principal Julie Gregg, East principal Rex Pinkerton and Judge Haynes principal Erica Tomano joined superintendent Jeremy Gulley in walking through a host of issues that would have to be resolved.

“Now we’re starting to narrow and evaluate,” said Gulley.

Central to the discussion is how Shanks and East would be configured in the event of a Judge Haynes closing.

Would both be kindergarten through fifth grade schools as they are now?

Or would East become a kindergarten through second grade building while Shanks shifts to a third grade through fifth grade building?

“The class size balances are a challenge (with two K-5 schools),” said Gulley. “You’re constantly re-drawing the boundary. … This is a real problem, trying to find a practical way.”

If both schools were K-5, East would have an enrollment of 428, based upon current numbers, and Shanks would have an enrollment of 398. But each grade would have two or three sections per building.

If East were a K-2 school, its enrollment would be 436. If Shanks were a 3-5 school, its enrollment would be 390, based upon current numbers. But in that configuration, there would be five or six sections of each grade in each building.

That second format would be more predictable in terms of class size, said Gregg.

“In other words, the more sections you have the easier it is to keep a balance,” said board member Phil Ford.

While the K-2/3-5 model would be new to Jay County, it has been implemented elsewhere, including in Randolph County.

Gulley noted that concerns have been raised about having to split the children from a single family between two different schools. But Tomano noted, “Historically we have had to split” under the current format, simply because of limits on effective class size.

Under either format, there would be additional transportation challenges. Some of the roughly 200 students at Judge Haynes now walk to school. If the school is closed, all would have to be bused either to East or Shanks.

Transportation director Teresa Myers estimated that the K-5 format would require two additional bus drivers. The K-2/3-5 format would require three more drivers and one additional bus.

Either format would also require some major re-working of parking lots and traffic patterns to handle the additional traffic. Waters estimated there would need to be room for 17 buses at the end of the school day.

“The architects are working to see if they can come up with something,” she told the board.

“We are going to do something to these parking lots,” added Gulley, noting that the parking and traffic situation at East has never been good. “Do not assume it will be the way it is.”

The principals reviewed tentative re-configurations of the floor plans of the East and Shanks buildings as well as how the day’s schedule would have to be rearranged.

“Building a mock schedule takes an inordinate amount of time,” said Tomano. “We know we can make the schedule work. We just have to figure out how.”

Other “how” questions involve curriculum, special education, food service and extracurriculars. Those are still being sorted out in discussions with teachers, parents and administrators.

But answers to those questions are going to need to be found if Jay Schools is to realize the savings it needs to help get its fiscal house in order in the face of declining enrollment.

Business manager Brad DeRome has estimated the general fund savings from a Haynes closure at $380,972 per calendar year, along with another $69,000 a year in savings in the capital projects fund.

Should the board decide in December not to close Judge Haynes, said Gulley, he would immediately assemble a budget control committee to come up with other ways to save an equivalent amount of money.

“If you don’t consolidate buildings, you don’t get that efficiency,” he told the board.

Board members will return to those questions in November when it’s expected they’ll hear a report on a demographic study with projections on future student enrollment and an update from the architectural firm of Barton-Coe-Vilamaa, which has been looking about what structural changes would be needed, particularly at East.

Gulley said that he’s heard a repeated comment from the public that “if you’re going to do things at East, build walls.” The building, which was built in the mid-1970s, was originally “open concept.” But over time, a number of walls and partial walls have been installed in an effort to reduce classroom noise problems.

In other business, the board:

•Authorized a shift from the current student management software with INOW to Skyward at an initial data conversion cost of $101,607 and an annual software license fee of $28,737 for three years. That expenditure will come from the capital projects fund. The new software is expected to allow online student registration for parents.

•Approved an emergency shelter agreement with Miller’s Merry Manor in rural Dunkirk that would allow the nursing home to use facilities at West Jay Middle School in the event of a fire or natural disaster.

•Received a report from curriculum director Trent Paxson on the school corporation’s A-F report card from the Indiana Department of Education. Overall, the corporation received a B, but because of the new test this year was able to hold onto its grade of A from last year. Individual school grades were: Bloomfield – B, East – A, Shanks – C, Haynes – B, Pennville – A, Redkey – B, Westlawn – A, East Jay – B, West Jay – B and Jay County High School – B.

•Accepted a Title I grant from the U.S. Department of Education totaling $1,005,578.84.

•Accepted a formative assessment grant from the Indiana Department of Education totaling $39,243.02.

•Hired Madison Brown as a part-time instructional assistant and Denise Shannon as a Title I instructional assistant.

•Accepted the resignations of school bus aide William Lawrence, science and language arts teacher Mike Schuck, English teacher Michelle Hart, crossing guard Doris Barger, and social studies teacher Justin Simos.

•Approved leaves of absence for bus driver Sidney Denton, school nurse Lori DeRome, guidance secretary Bonnie Muhlenkamp, special education teacher Catherine Berno, and bus driver Connie Malberg.

•Approve extracurricular assignments for Krista Chenoweth as an assistant gymnastics coach, Cindy Hudson as yearbook sponsor at Shanks, Elizabeth Strausburg and Lindsey Peterson as cheer sponsors at Shanks, Emily Bihn as boys’ basketball coach at Shanks, James Roberts as seventh grade boys’ basketball coach at West Jay, Larry Stultz as eighth grade boys’ basketball coach at West Jay, Shad Fields as seventh grade girls’ basketball coach at West Jay, Zachary Johnson as eighth grade girls’ basketball coach at West Jay, Melony Eley as sixth grade girls’ basketball coach at West Jay, and Rodney Nichols as sixth grade boys’ basketball coach at West Jay, Ed Geesaman as seventh grade volleyball coach at East Jay, Sarah Wenk as eighth grade volleyball coach at East Jay, and Liz Lawson as fine arts academic team coach at JCHS.

•Accepted the extracurricular resignations of Michelle Hart as cross country coach at West Jay and Justin Simos as team leader at West Jay.