September 27, 2017 at 5:36 p.m.
Input meeting is Thursday
Jay School Corporation is considering further building consolidation
Input meeting is Thursday
The numbers are discouraging, but they are impossible to ignore.
“These are very emotionally connected decisions,” Jay Schools superintendent Jeremy Gulley said last week as he reviewed long-term options for Jay School Board. “But the facts have to help us make the very best decisions.”
The board has already made the tough choice to close Pennville Elementary School, which saw its last students in May, and faces a decision in December on the closing of Judge Haynes Elementary School.
Still more consolidation of facilities could well be on the horizon.
The first of two community input and information sessions on potential changes in the configuration of the school district will be held at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at West Jay Middle School.
A second session will be held at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 10 at East Jay Middle School.
Driving the discussion will be the ongoing decline in student enrollment and the related drop in state revenue for the corporation’s general fund, which has seen its year-end balance drop precipitously in recent years.
“We project deficits if no adjustments are made,” Gulley told the board last week.
Though no formal action has been taken on Judge Haynes, it appears likely that the school will close at the end of the 2017-18 school year.
Tentative plans call for converting East Elementary School to a kindergarten through grade two facility and General Shanks Elementary School into a grade three through six building.
But Gulley, who has been working with a superintendent’s advisory committee of 13 community members, has stressed that a Judge Haynes closing won’t solve the long-term problem.
Overall enrollment in Jay Schools is down 44 percent since 1973, and elementary enrollment is half what it was in 1975. This year’s drop in enrollment was the biggest in the past decade.
“These are very emotionally connected decisions,” Jay Schools superintendent Jeremy Gulley said last week as he reviewed long-term options for Jay School Board. “But the facts have to help us make the very best decisions.”
The board has already made the tough choice to close Pennville Elementary School, which saw its last students in May, and faces a decision in December on the closing of Judge Haynes Elementary School.
Still more consolidation of facilities could well be on the horizon.
The first of two community input and information sessions on potential changes in the configuration of the school district will be held at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at West Jay Middle School.
A second session will be held at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 10 at East Jay Middle School.
Driving the discussion will be the ongoing decline in student enrollment and the related drop in state revenue for the corporation’s general fund, which has seen its year-end balance drop precipitously in recent years.
“We project deficits if no adjustments are made,” Gulley told the board last week.
Though no formal action has been taken on Judge Haynes, it appears likely that the school will close at the end of the 2017-18 school year.
Tentative plans call for converting East Elementary School to a kindergarten through grade two facility and General Shanks Elementary School into a grade three through six building.
But Gulley, who has been working with a superintendent’s advisory committee of 13 community members, has stressed that a Judge Haynes closing won’t solve the long-term problem.
Overall enrollment in Jay Schools is down 44 percent since 1973, and elementary enrollment is half what it was in 1975. This year’s drop in enrollment was the biggest in the past decade.
That’s primarily due to changing demographics. Schools built to accommodate Baby Boomers are larger than needed for the current generation. Families are smaller these days, and Jay County’s median age is higher than it used to be.
The problem is nothing new, and it’s not limited to Jay County. Blackford Schools have been particularly hard hit, losing 24 percent of its enrollment over a 10-year period. Closing of as many as three elementaries was recommended to the Jay School Board as far back as 2001.
Gulley sketched out a couple of options for the board last week, and those are likely to be the focus of Thursday’s meeting.
Option one would:
•Use the Jay County High School building for grades seven through 12, making changes to the instructional area at the southwest corner of the building to provide separation between younger and older students.
•Close General Shanks and convert the current East Jay Middle School building into an intermediate level elementary for grades three through six.
•Keep East Elementary as a kindergarten through grade two building as called for in the Judge Haynes closing plan.
•Make Bloomfield Elementary School and Redkey Elementary School kindergarten through sixth grade facilities.
•Close Westlawn Elementary School and convert the current West Jay Middle School building into a kindergarten through grade 6 facility.
Option two would be similar, but the high school building would have students from grade six through 12 while all elementaries would end at grade five.
Under either option, the school corporation would go from its current nine buildings to six and would see significant savings.
Gulley has stressed that the options he has presented are “conceptual.” He’s inviting comment and questions not only through Thursday’s session but via a survey on the Jay Schools website.
The community can access Gulley’s full 50-page report to the board at bit.ly/JSCplanning and then take an online survey through the corporation’s website.
The problem is nothing new, and it’s not limited to Jay County. Blackford Schools have been particularly hard hit, losing 24 percent of its enrollment over a 10-year period. Closing of as many as three elementaries was recommended to the Jay School Board as far back as 2001.
Gulley sketched out a couple of options for the board last week, and those are likely to be the focus of Thursday’s meeting.
Option one would:
•Use the Jay County High School building for grades seven through 12, making changes to the instructional area at the southwest corner of the building to provide separation between younger and older students.
•Close General Shanks and convert the current East Jay Middle School building into an intermediate level elementary for grades three through six.
•Keep East Elementary as a kindergarten through grade two building as called for in the Judge Haynes closing plan.
•Make Bloomfield Elementary School and Redkey Elementary School kindergarten through sixth grade facilities.
•Close Westlawn Elementary School and convert the current West Jay Middle School building into a kindergarten through grade 6 facility.
Option two would be similar, but the high school building would have students from grade six through 12 while all elementaries would end at grade five.
Under either option, the school corporation would go from its current nine buildings to six and would see significant savings.
Gulley has stressed that the options he has presented are “conceptual.” He’s inviting comment and questions not only through Thursday’s session but via a survey on the Jay Schools website.
The community can access Gulley’s full 50-page report to the board at bit.ly/JSCplanning and then take an online survey through the corporation’s website.
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