Virtually updated

Jay School Corporation is halfway through its first year of a pilot program with a virtual academy. It has already resulted in fewer students leaving the district.

Katie Clark, the school corporation’s director of digital learning, provided Jay School Board with an update on the pilot program during Monday’s meeting.

The virtual academy, approved in February 2025, contracts with Edmentum’s EdOptions Academy for its virtual curriculum. Students can work from home but also get regular check-ins from school staff. They have access to extracurriculars, special education accommodations, work-based learning opportunities, college and career exploration, financial literacy and technology support. They are required to go through an onboarding process and take required state tests in person.

Clark reported that the pilot program for seventh through 12th graders had 62 students for the fall semester. That number is up to 67 for the spring semester.

At a state reimbursement rate of about $7,000 per student, that will mean about $450,000 in additional funding for the school corporation.

“We’re not losing money on this one,” said Jay Schools superintendent Jeremy Gulley. “But what I really appreciate about the board and that team is that it’s never been about the dollar, it’s about the kid.”

Of those students, Clark said 86% are achieving academic success based on earning high school credits. Sixty percent are “on track” by earning five credits or more in the first semester and another 25% earned some credits. 

The remaining 14% are rated as needing intervention, with Jay Schools staff looking at other options to meet their academic needs.

Clark noted that in 2024, 119 students from Jay Schools were leaving the district to take classes with a virtual academy. In 2025, that number was down to 73. She also noted that the school corporation’s total enrollment went up by 86 students, an increase of 3%.

The school corporation has added a success coach, hiring retired history teacher Todd Gibson for that position. In that role, he stays in regular communication with virtual academy students and is available to provide assistance. He noted one student who was struggling and began coming to the Jay Schools annex at John Jay Center for Learning. By the end of the first semester, the student had earned four credits. (The same student earned just one credit last year.)

“We’ve really done a good job, I feel like, of meeting the needs of our students and meeting them where they are,” said Clark.

Clark said priorities in the second semester of the pilot are increasing communication with virtual teachers and working more on career readiness programs.

Answering questions from board member Donna Geesaman, Clark said the virtual academy students are able to work at their own pace.

Board member Chad Towell asked about how Jay Schools’ statistics for its virtual academy compare to those with other virtual schools. Clark said she would get that data to the board.

She also said that school staff reach out to all students when they begin the withdrawal process to make sure they are aware of the virtual academy option.

In other business, board members Ron Laux, Marcie Vormohr, Chip Phillips, Jon Eads, Aaron Clark, Geesaman and Towell:

•During the Patriot Pride moment, learned from Jay County Junior-Senior High School principal Chad Dodd that the school corporation’s graduation rate was 95.4% for 2025, up by about 7 percentage points from the previous year. It is one of the highest marks in the high school’s history. Dodd noted that all students who stuck with the school corporation received a diploma. The board recognized the efforts of the school staff, also hearing from assistant principal James Myers and guidance counselors Kristin Millspaugh and Tom Ferguson.

•Declared the school corporation’s pension debt fund as dormant. Its pension debt was paid off last year. The remaining $40,217.64 in the fund was transferred to the rainy day fund.

•Authorized business manager Shannon Current to transfer up to 10% of the operation fund budget to the rainy day fund. She plans to transfer $135,318.64 to bring the rainy day fund balance to $2 million.

•OK’d expenditures related to recovery from the September 2024 tornado that hit the junior high wing of the junior-senior high school. Costs now totaling nearly $5.9 million.

•Accepted the resignation of Greg Garringer as a custodian. 

•Approved the following: the hiring of Kami Fulkerson as a sixth grade teacher for West Jay Elementary School; approved extracurricular assignments, including Matt Champ as junior high assistant softball coach; a contract with EverDriven Technologies for alternative transportation services; a handbook change to allow overtime pay for the director of maintenance if he is required to report on a weekend or holiday; year-end transfers that were made to keep all fund balances in the black; new or modified policies on topics including drug and alcohol testing, digital content, background checks, nondiscrimination and anti-harassment; the purchase of a new boiler for the pool at a cost of $198,400; and increasing preschool fees to $758 per child for two days per week, $1,109 for three days per week and $1,761 for five days per week.

•Accepted donations of $1,500 from Dunkirk Kiwanis Club to Redkey Elementary School, $1,000 from Portland Veterinary Clinic for pool rebranding and $750 from Portland Breakfast Optimist Club for the high school choir.

•Heard from Gulley that he expects to have bids for a portion of the junior-senior high school capital project ready for review at the Feb. 16 meeting. The project includes updates to the electrical system, heating, ventilation and air conditioning controls, and mechanical equipment at the pool.