Jasper Schools Spotlight Student Honors and Athletics

It was a capacity crowd at the Greater Jasper Consolidated Schools board meeting on Monday night. Board member Greg Eckerle said it may be the most people he has seen at a meeting in his tenure. In the Wildcat Spotlight, students were recognized who had achieved perfect scores on the spring IREAD-3 and ILEARN assessments. Each youngster received a certificate and had their picture taken with the board to commemorate their achievement. 

Athletic Director Phil Kendall gave updates on an exciting athletic year, including the district’s healthy athletic budget. He expressed his desire to compete again this year for the All Conference Overall trophy. Last year, in one of the closest finishes ever, Jasper came in second to Castle by a slim margin. The board heard numerous success stories on the opening of the new football stadium and addressed minor incidents of inconvenience and some vandalism. The scoreboards are already attracting new advertisers, and Kendall says more improvements are on the way. 

The board accepted a series of resignations, staff hires, and addendums and approved Master’s Incentive Programs completion base salary increases. Independent contracts were approved for Speech Language Pathology services and the DSP Co-op. Two public hearings were held during the meeting, one regarding the 2024 fiscal budget year where approval was given for the Resolution for Additional Appropriation, and the board approved the 24-25 Teacher Evaluation Plan. 

Among the other business was a slight revision to the breakfast pricing plan, building and maintenance updates including the tennis courts and other cosmetic and functional items that fit with the board’s common theme of leaving things better than we found them. The Transportation Director requested and received permission to buy a new bus from Blue Bird and expressed his desire to continue setting high standards in student safety from pre-K all the way through high school. In addition to the new bus purchase, the transportation department will be committing resources to severe weather safety in the coming months. Two conflict of interest disclosures were discussed and approved, and the next meeting will be held on the adjusted date of September 30 th due to an Indianapolis trip for board business. 

For more information on these and other updates, visit gjcs.k12.in.us. 

 - By Drew Hasselbring