Honors presented

Jay School Board focused most of its meeting Monday on celebrating.

The board honored its second class of Patriot Service Award winners — Bob Lyons, Ingrid Saxman and Dave Humbert — during the meeting which also included saying goodbye to retiring staff members.

The Patriot Service Awards honor “individuals who have significantly contributed to the mission of the Jay School Corporation over an extended period of time.” Nominees must be past employees who spent at least 20 years working in the school district.

Lyons taught agriculture classes locally for 46 years — the first 15 at Portland High School followed by another 31 after consolidation into Jay County High School. His granddaughter, Katie Loy, who is now an ag teacher at Jay County Junior-Senior High School, presented him with the award.

Saxman accepted her honor in the same building where she began her teaching career, as the former General Shanks Elementary School now houses the school corporation’s administrative offices. She spent 44 years in Jay Schools, contributed to the National Blue Ribbon Award-winning committee and served 16 years as the school board’s representative on Jay County Public Library Board.

Humbert was the director of bands for Portland, Redkey and Pennville high schools before bringing students from across the county together when Jay County High School opened in 1975. He led the Marching Patriots to two Indiana State Fair Band Day championships.

“When this came up, I thought of Dave Humbert almost immediately because when Jay County High School was formed, I think it’s fair to say there was a little bit of dissension,” said school board member Phil Ford. “And I thought you did as much as anyone to bring that together the way you structured everything.”

The first class of Patriot Service Award winners last year included Glen Bryant, Larry Paxson and Doug Johnson.

The board also recognized retiring staff members Connie Aker, Steve Boozier, Rene Denton, Lisa Hodson, Kim Hyatt, Connie Lyons, Terri Mast and Rhonda Clott. Hodson, who started in Jay Schools in 1994, and Aker, who followed in 1996, are the longest-tenured of the group.

Board members Ron Laux, Donna Gessaman, Jason Phillips, Chip Phillips, Vickie Reitz, Marcie Vormohr and Ford also approved spending up to $20,000 for the addition of a JROTC obstacle course on the junior-senior high grounds.

Drew Houck of Portland Rotary Club explained that two high school students had served on the club’s board and suggested the JROTC project as a way to give back to the school. The rotary club provided $800 in contributions as the start of raising $11,625 toward the project.

In other business, the board:

•During the Patriot Pride moment, honored the Jay County junior high and high school academic teams. The junior high social studies team finished fifth in the state in its class while the high school English team placed third out of 49 schools in Class 2A statewide and the math team won the Eastern Indiana Academic League championship. Also honored were students who were named as academic rising stars and Gage Sims as an academic all-star nominee.

•OK’d the junior-senior high and elementary school handbooks, including updates to the dress code. Those updates include other recommended changes include using the term “mid-thigh” for shorts, skirts and dresses rather than “fingertip length”; removing pajamas, wristbands and biker shorts from the restricted list; and adding sunglasses and flags to the restricted list. Staff will be trained to pull students aside rather than disciplining them in front of other students and to maintain a respectful demeanor in order to reduce student embarrassment. Processes and documentation will be put in place to help with consistency of enforcement.

•Approved the following: the hiring of Olivia Niekamp as a fourth grade teacher; leaves of absence for teachers Kari Brotherton and Kayla Luginbill; extracurricular assignments including Brandy Foster as junior class sponsor, Ryan Fritze as assistant football coach, Mindy Weaver as assistant cheer coach, Erin Roesch as assistant band director and Andy Wellman and Marc Bogenschutz as assistant girls basketball coaches; field trips for high school cheerleaders, foreign language clubs, FFA students and high school band students; services contracts with BlazerWorks and First Steps; a new food service management agreement with Chartwells, which was the only vendor to submit a proposal; and elementary science textbooks from publisher SAVVAS.

•Heard from business manager Shannon Current that the heating, ventilation and cooling project at West Jay Elementary School will start at the conclusion of the school year with a completion date of Aug. 6.

•Accepted a $40,238 High Ability Grant.

•Approved the retirement of high school science teacher Connie Aker.

•Presented proposed policies for first reading. They will be up for a vote at the board’s June 17 meeting.

•Accepted the resignations of junior high English/language arts teacher Kaylee Leary, preschool teacher Angelana Carter and bus aide Kendra Sizemore.