Board reviews tentative agreement

Local teachers are slated for an average 4.5% raise.

Jay School Board reviewed the tentative agreement with Jay Classroom Teachers Association during its meeting Monday.

The teachers’ union unanimously approved the agreement last week following a process that included four bargaining sessions. 

“I would describe it as very collegial and problem-solving in its orientation,” said Gulley. “We truly work together.”

The board plans to vote on it during a special meeting at 5 p.m. Monday, when superintendent Jeremy Gulley also plans to propose increases for support staff and administrators.

The tentative agreement with Jay Classroom Teachers Association calls for a base salary of $47,503 for first-year teachers. Those with a literacy endorsement would get an additional $500.

Annual raises are broken down by:

•Evaluation — Those who receive a rating above “ineffective” — $1,500

•Experience — Those working 120 days or more in the previous school year — $800

•Education — Those who have a master’s degree in a content area — $200

Salary increases are also slated for several teachers because of their “invaluable contributions to Jay School Corporation.”

Teachers with 30 years of experience or more would be guaranteed a raise of $2,300 for those with a bachelor’s degree and $2,500 for those with a master’s degree.

If the tentative agreement is approved, the school corporation would contribute $8,000 toward single health insurance plans and $17,200 toward family plans.

It also calls for adding a weight room supervisor position and elimination several advisor positions for clubs that are no longer active.

There were no comments from members of the public or the board on the proposal.

Board members Donna Geesaman, Marci Vormohr, Chip Phillips, Chad Dowell and Aaron Clark, with president Ron Laux and Jon Eads absent, also reviewed a proposal for the 2026-27 school calendar, which calls for the first day of school on Wednesday, Aug. 12. (Gulley noted that the first day was shifted in conjunction with Indiana State Fair Band Day, which will be held on Friday, Aug. 7.)  Fall break would be Oct. 21, 22 and 23, winter break from Dec. 21 through Jan. 1 and spring break from March 19 through 26. The last day of school would be May 26, the Wednesday before Memorial Day.

The board took no action on the proposed calendar and plans to also vote on it at the Oct. 27 meeting.

In other business, the board:

•During the Patriot Pride moment, honored Bloomfield Elementary School students for their efforts to make posters for Red Ribbon Week. Students discussed making positive choices through the Just Say No club. Gulley noted that all of the schools in the corporation are active in Just Say No.

•Approved the following: extracurricular assignments, including Marc Bogenschutz as assistant girls basketball coach and Eddie Fields as assistant boys wrestling coach; a leave of absence for East Jay Elementary School special education teacher Emily Kaiser; an FFA poultry judging team field trip to Louisville, Kentucky, for the National Poultry and Egg Conference; a contract with Orange Grove Therapy for virtual speech/language therapy; the hiring of Tyler Diek as a custodian at the junior-senior high; recovery expenses from the September 2024 tornado (the overall total is just over $5 million); and the sale of two buses through Bricker Auction Company. 

•Accepted donations of $7,800 for the boys basketball program from Friends of Jay County Basketball; $3,000 for Jay County Robotics from The Portland Foundation, $3,000 for the high school show choirs from Jay County Visitors and Tourism Bureau and $1,000 for the choirs from Compass Poultry.

•Approved retirements for bus driver Janet Dunmoyer and West Jay Elementary School instructional assistant Annette Stultz.

•Accepted a $21,523.14 Formative Assessment Grant to help with the purchase of NWEA assessments. Assistant superintendent Trent Paxson noted that the grant is about $22,000 less than the school corporation received last year.

•Accepted the resignation of school bus aide Paige Gillette.