The Jay School Corporation

Dear Parents/Guardians: Please make sure your student is prepared to ride the bus by ensuring that he or she has a mask each day. This protocol was established at the beginning of the school year. This is a requirement for students to ride the bus. We have previously provided masks earlier in the school year and we have provided disposable masks in accidental forgotten circumstances; however, it is the responsibility of the parents and guardians to provide masks for their children each day. We ask you to please speak with your student regarding this expectation. We appreciate your assistance. Melissa Stephen Transportation Director Jay Schools

The Jay School Board met in public session last evening and adopted the resolution at the link below on a 5-0 vote. We have been working with our local health department and are prepared to make necessary adjustments to our plan in order to keep schools open while mitigating the spread of COVID-19. As we have done throughout the pandemic, we will adjust as necessary, involve parents, staff and our community, and keep everyone informed along the way. Updated close contact exclusion guidelines will be forthcoming as authorized in the adopted resolution. Full coverage of the school board meeting is in today’s (10/30/20) edition of the Commercial Review. We join with our local health department in recommending increased vigilance with distancing, hand hygiene, and mask wearing. We also remind parents not to send your child to school if they are ill. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TfEUwYqKEz1OPGmzVnKFlEM8oGXX3a-omAbQzpbvtJ8/edit?usp=sharing

Congratulations to the 2020 AEAI Outstanding Art Educators! Winners were nominated by their peers and submitted material that was judged by a panel. Jacquelin Analco has been named Indiana's Outstanding Art Educator for 2020. Jacquelin currently teaches art courses at the Jay County Jr-Sr High School. Below is a slideshow representing the different awards passed out by the Art Education Association of Indiana. Jacquelin's portion starts at the 4 min 50 second mark. We are very proud of her and her commitment to developing art skills within her students. Congratulations Mrs. Analco!! https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_U9OMoAFvprCatZnUF7bqlr8UaEigqbX/view Analco- Indiana Outstanding Art Teacher

Important Information from Foodservice: The United States Department of Agriculture has issued an extension of the nationwide waivers now until June 30, 2021. Our Students will continue to be offered FREE breakfast and lunch regardless of free, reduced, and paid lunch status for the entire school year. No forms or application is required to participate. We will continue to charge for second meals and a la carte items such as chips, drinks, cookies, etc. Please make sure you are still filling out Free/Reduced applications due to textbook fee benefits. Any questions please feel free to email foodservice@jayschools.k12.in.us or call (260) 726-9306 ext. 2262.

Jay Schools are now on a 3 hour delay Thursday, October 22, 2020. Schools will be dismissed 1 hour later than normal.

Due to dense fog, Jay Schools are on a two hour delay today, Thursday, October 22, 2020.

College Students.... If all or some of your college classes are online and you have extra time and would like to sub for the Jay Schools, please stop by 1976 W Tyson Rd, Portland and pick up a sub packet. For more information, call Central Office at 260-726-9341 and speak with Donna.

The Jay School Corporation will be testing our new mass notification phone and texting system this coming Friday, September 25, 2020. This system will send important school information via text or automated phone calls. In order to receive these school text messages or phone calls you must have a valid phone number in Skyward. The texts and phone calls will be sent to "Guardian 1" and "Guardian 2" (if applicable) as was entered by parents during the registration process. If you need to update your information in Skyward, go to the following link: https://www.jayschoolcorp.org/skyward Parents who need help with their Skyward username or password should complete this form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScrMg-7b-xwlcx8RB5JtahlA7fdZmOYl9ZdG2zdnTGxjLA6CA/viewform?usp=sf_link The incoming phone number should show up in your caller ID as 260-726-9341 and the text will say "From Jay School Corp".

Chartwells, our food service company, has informed us that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has approved our district to offer free breakfast and lunch to our students effective September 10, 2020. Our students will be offered FREE breakfast and lunch regardless of free, reduced or paid lunch status. Chartwells will be refunding all meal charges that may have happened from the first day of school until today (9/16/20) back to the student lunch account (except second meals and a la carte sales). Meals will be FREE until December 31st, 2020. This waiver will expire and on January 1st, 2021 meals will be charged based on status again. No forms or application is required for a student to receive FREE meals during this waiver period. We will continue to charge for second meals and a la carte items such as chips, drinks, cookies, etc. Make sure you are still filling out Free/Reduced applications due to textbook fee benefits. Any questions please feel free to email foodservice@jayschools.k12.in.us or call (260) 726-9306 ext. 2262.

We are good to go after this 2 hour delay. Conditions are much improved. Welcome back!

Jay Schools are on a 2 hour delay, September 10, 2020, due to fog.

A reminder to everyone that a 3 hour delay is an option we consider when poor weather conditions are present in our county. This option has been helpful in the past, particularly on days with morning fog. We chose not to use this option today in the hope that tomorrow will permit a full school day for students and staff to implement COVID-19 safety procedures and other changes at the schools to start a new school year. However, if we experience fog again tomorrow morning like we did today, we will go from a 2 hour delay to a 3 hour delay, if necessary, to allow conditions to improve and preserve the school day. We have new bus routes, new bus stops, and new traffic patterns at some of our schools. We want to avoid everyone having to adjust to this while contending with fog. When 3 hour delays occur, school ends one hour later than normal. Bus drivers begin their routes at 6:00 AM, so if we delay or cancel we make the decision by that time. Likewise, after a 2 hour delay, we make the decision to delay further or cancel by 8:00 AM. In a school district as large as ours, road or weather conditions in one part of the county may be different than in another part. As has been our past practice, we will support parents who feel conditions in their location are not safe to send their student(s) to school. Absences in these situations are excused as long as the parent communicates with the school. While not all risks in life can be eliminated, ultimately, the safety of our students and employees is the only thing on our minds as we make weather-related decisions.

In accordance with the JSC eLearning plan, there is no eLearning when school is cancelled on the first day of a grading period. We will review options that may avoid the need to add a day at the end of the school year. Details on this will be announced.

Jay Schools are cancelled due to fog, September 9, 2020.

Jay Schools are on a 2 hour delay, September 9, 2020, due to fog.

We are extending the hours of our Transportation Office to 9:00 PM this evening for anyone needing assistance with bus information. Please contact Director of Transportation, Melissa Stephen at 260-726-9605 until 6:00 PM then at 260-726-5272 between 6:00 PM and 9:00 PM this evening. 2020-2021 bus information is at the link below. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OzQlMkTweZ4jrGyygxbZnIyX3xG3s490/view?usp=sharing

For parents who may have missed it earlier, 2020-2021 transportation information is at the link below. For anyone needing assistance, please contact Director of Transportation, Melissa Stephen at 260-726-5272 or by email at mstephen@jayschools.k12.in.us https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OzQlMkTweZ4jrGyygxbZnIyX3xG3s490/view?usp=sharing

Ray Cooney, Editor and Publisher of The Commercial Review, interviewed Jay Schools Superintendent, Jeremy Gulley, Jay County Health Department Administrator, Heath Butz, and others, about the reopening of the schools. https://youtu.be/7AVSB8XlO5E

Great to see our team on the field and families in the stands this morning. Proud of all our Patriot athletes.

Jay Schools delayed the start of the school year until September 9, 2020, in part, to learn how schools across the state are reopening and to use this information to help us communicate and prepare. It is clear that COVID-19 is in every community and will affect every school at some point. We know this from observing other schools that have already reopened across the state. We want to be as transparent as possible with parents and the public about what is happening in our schools, so we’ve created a COVID-19 Reporting Dashboard found at the link below. This dashboard will contain information about the number of students and staff in close contact quarantine, the number of students and staff in COVID-19 positive isolation, and the number of students and staff released from COVID-19 isolation. The purpose of this document is to help parents prepare for the start of the school year by providing important COVID-19 resources. This is intended to help families navigate health department information. https://docs.google.com/…/1U44EJsy9gLGnWZpcvXuec-WN2G…/edit… If you have questions, you are encouraged to ask them in the form at this link. https://forms.gle/ZyzSV3BZuqnwujDLA