Turf, "cleathouse" move forward

The “cleat house” and artificial turf project is moving forward.

Jay School Board on Monday awarded bids for projects to construct a “cleat house” at the northeast end of Harold E. Schutz Memorial Stadium and install artificial turf at the facility.

Jay County Junior-Senior High School athletics director Steve Boozier initially made a presentation to the school board in November laying out a series of immediate, intermediate and long-term goals for outdoor athletic facilities. Among those goals were determining whether to use turf or grass at the football field and constructing a new locker room/concession/restroom building (currently being referred to as a “cleat house”).

The board evaluated various options in January, ultimately choosing to move forward with a plan to install a turf football field — it will be available for use by the football and soccer teams, marching band, JROTC and others — and to construct a new building for locker rooms, concessions and restrooms to replace the currently nearly 50-year-old structure. (The board has discussed future plans of installing new home bleachers and flipping the field so that home fans are not facing the sun.)

Gulley presented his recommendations for those two portions of the project Monday, with Mid-States Construction of Redkey as the low bidder for the “cleat house” at $4,226,207 and Sprinturf of Charleston, South Carolina, the low bidder for the artificial turf at $885,300. He also asked Boozier to address the safety of artificial turf, which has been a topic of national discussion following New York Jets' quarterback Aaron Rogers’ injury in the first week of the NFL season.

“The turf we’re putting down is safe,” said Boozier, noting that professional and college football are different from the high school game. “We’re going to provide an opportunity for more kids to benefit from this space on our campus. And it will also provide a safer playing condition than what we currently have.”

Board members Ron Laux, Donna Geesaman, Phil Ford, Jason Phillips, Vickie Reitz, Marcie Vormohr and Chip Phillips unanimously awarded both projects based on Gulley’s recommendations. They also awarded painting and electrical work related to a commons renovation project at the junior-senior high school to Muhlenkamp Building Corporation of Coldwater, Ohio, at a cost of $64,716.

The turf and “cleat house” are expected to be complete for the start of the 2024-25 school year.

The commons renovation project is scheduled for winter break.

Board members also approved the school corporation’s 2024 budget at $40.7 million along with its capital projects and bus replacement plans. It includes $21.9 million in the education fund, $11 million in the operations fund, $5.85 million in the debt service fund, $1 million in the rainy day fund and $893,902 in the pension debt service fund.

The three-year capital projects plan includes nearly $545,000 in roof projects for 2024, with $325,000 in 2025 and $285,000 in 2026. Other major projects in 2024 include lights for the baseball field at $338,200, other lighting at $155,000 and new vehicles at $150,000. School security upgrades ($190,000), softball lights ($165,000) and parking lot work ($150,000) is planned for 2025, and parking lot work, new vehicles and grounds equipment are all estimated at $100,000 in 2026.

The bus replacement plan calls for replacing five buses each in 2024 and 2025 at a cost of $150,000 each and four buses each in each of the next three years.

The board also approved a facility use agreement with Jay Community Center on a 4-2 vote, with Vormohr, Laux, Geesaman and Jason Phillips in favor, Reitz and Chip Phillips against, and Ford abstaining.

Ford said he was in support of sharing facilities, but expressed concern that a coach of one of the community center teams has made unsubstantiated derogatory claims about school staff on social media and been thrown out of games for his behavior at various levels. He said he could not vote in favor of an agreement that allowed such an individual to coach in Jay Schools facilities, saying he would abstain.

Laux and Geesaman said they agreed with much of what Ford said, but that they ultimately felt the facility agreement was a good one.

In other business, the board:

•Honored Early College students, with Ryne Goldsworthy as their representative, during the Patriot Pride moment. Later in the meeting, junior-senior high principal Chad Dodd and assistant principal James Myers shared data showing that 29 students are on track to meet Indiana College Core requirements this year. (The program equates to 30 credit hours of college coursework that must ben accepted by all Indiana colleges and universities.)

•Reviewed the school corporation’s IREAD 3 and ILEARN scores for 2023. Eighty-two percent of Jay Schools third graders passed the IREAD. That number was down from 86.8% in 2022, but matched the state average. The corporation’s passing percentage for ILEARN was above the state average for third, sixth, seventh and eighth grades, and below the state average of fourth and fifth grades.

•Accepted the retirement of East Jay Elementary instructional assistant Lisa Hodson effective Oct. 31, and the resignations of West Jay sixth grade teacher Debra Losch and transportation director Melissa Stephen.

•Approved the following: Various hirings including Bruce Phillips as a school bus aide, Brooke Shoemaker as a sixth grade teacher at West Jay Elementary School and Abigale Clamme as a technology instructor at East Elementary School; Leaves of absence for Julie Kable, Christie Sommers and Sadie Schulze; adult meal prices of $4.70 for lunch and $2.75 for breakfast; granting permission to sell a car lift via an online auction through Bricker Auction Company; a change regarding administrator support staff to allow sick leave from a prior position to be credited; a service agreement to transport Jay County Christian Academy students; 

•Accepted a Title I grant of $1.05 million and a Title IV grant of $84,217.32.