Mobile unit target is Dec. 2

Students displaced by the Sept. 22 tornado will have a new classroom space soon.

Jay Schools superintendent Jeremy Gulley told Jay School Board on Monday that plans are on track for Jay County Junior-Senior High School students to begin using mobile classrooms Dec. 2.

The board also approved spending related to the tornado recovery and discussed upcoming roof and parking lot maintenance plans.

The tornado that hit the junior-senior high on the evening of Sept. 22 caused severe damage to the junior high/IMC (library) wing of the building. Students were out of the building for a week while the damaged area was sealed off. When they returned, junior high students were shifted to other underutilized spaces including the choir room and breezeway.

The school corporation was approved via insurance for mobile units to serve as temporary classrooms. They arrived last month and have been in the process of being installed on the north side of the school stretching from the sidewalk into the parking lot.

Gulley noted that staff is in the process of installing computer boards and other equipment.

“They look nice,” he said. “I think the kids and staff will appreciate them. …

“Pretty much everything that is in the school is in that building.”

Also, board members Ron Laux, Phil Ford, Donna Geesaman, Jason Phillips, Vickie Reitz, Chip Phillips and Marcie Vormohr approved expenditures related to the tornado response. The total thus far is $2.03 million, with a $789,697 roof replacement as the most expensive of the new items approved Monday.

Gulley also reported that insurance firm The Chubb Corporation has approved the scope of damage related to the tornado. The 44-page document details all of the damage including to masonry, windows, doors, walls, the roof and other items.

The next step in the process is to determine a cost estimate for the damage. 

The insurance firm is also having a mechanical, electrical and plumbing assessment done. It will be shared with architectural firm Barton Coe Vilamaa.

Facilities director Gary Cagle updated the board on capital project plans unrelated to the tornado. They call for replacing sections of the roof at the junior-senior high, Bloomfield Elementary School and East Jay Elementary School in 2025. Bloomfield, East and East Jay elementary schools are slated for parking lot work next year.

The board also approved the purchase of five buses at a cost of $739,625. Business manager Shannon Current noted that delivery of the buses could take 12 to 18 months.

In other business, the board:

•During the Patriot Pride Moment, learned about Clean Freaks Car Service. The business is a branch of the Jay County Junior-Senior High School LifeSkills classes. It offers interior car cleaning services for $20 for faculty and staff at the junior-senior high school and will begin cleaning the school corporation’s vehicles as well. Money raised will go toward an annual LifeSkills trip.

•Approved a resolution in support of pursuing Indiana Purple Star School Designations for schools in the corporation. The designation from the Indiana Department of Education honors schools that have displayed a significant commitment to service members, veterans, and students and families connected to the military

•Approved the following: field trips for junior-senior high German students to Chicago to visit the German Christmas Market and to Germany, Switzerland and Italy; implementing the option of a supplemental payment of up to $5,000 to help attract special education teachers; allowing the business manager to make year-end transfers as necessary to ensure no funds end the year with a negative balance; the transfer of up to 15% of money from the education fund to the operations fund; enrollment in the Indiana Bond Bank’s fuel budget program; updates to the school bus driver contract to reflect raises that were approved last month; an updated transportation agreement with Jay County Christian Academy at a cost of $5,710.78; a facility use agreement with Jay Community Center; an agreement with Fear Powersports to provide a vehicle for use by the school’s athletic trainer in exchange for advertising; 

•Accepted several resignations, including for football coach Grant Zgunda, Redkey Elementary School secretary Erin Bailey and junior high business teacher Jenna Winger.

•Reviewed a proposed update to family medical leave that would shift the timeline to a rolling 12 months rather than a calendar year.  

•Approved a facility use agreement with Jay Community Center. It includes a provision that the community center must designate an individual to serve in a supervisory capacity. Ford asked that the requirement be more specific to require that the supervisor be a paid community center employee. The board approved the agreement as presented on a 6-1 vote, with Ford dissenting.

•Accepted various donations: $2,065 from multiple entities for picnic tables and benches around the new locker room/concession/restroom building at the junior-senior high football field, $1,000 from FCC for shirts to be thrown out at football games and $500 from Dunkirk Kiwanis for tornado relief.

•Approved the 2025-26 school calendar. The first day of school will be Aug. 7, with fall break from Oct. 22 through 24, winter break from Dec. 22 through Jan. 2, spring break from March 20 through 27 and the last day of school May 22.

•Reviewed proposed new Indiana Department of Education high school diploma requirements. The IDOE is expected to vote to approve the new requirements next month.

•Heard Laux wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving weekend.