New JCD Supt. swears in others

The first order of business at the Jac-Cen-Del School Board meeting on January 9 was for Superintendent Melton to give the Oath of Office to the new board members. Tiffany Foster, Michael Davis and Danny Horn are coming on new (they didn’t have competition in the fall election) with Debra Roberts and James Gayheart returning.

In organization, the Board approved Debra Roberts as president and James Gayheart was approved as vice-president. Tiffany Foster will serve as secretary.
A financial meeting immediately followed the organizational meeting with Corporation Treasurer Trina Huff giving a brief discussion on the financials of the school. The board continued into the regular meeting.

Newly hired School Resource Officer Clark Lecher gave a brief history about himself and his qualifications. He touched base in the direction he would like to see the school go and said people could reach out to him with any concerns and/or comments in his new position.

The entire board was approved to serve as the board of finance officers.

In other business:

Taylor Hunter, Associate, Kroger Gardis & Regas, LLP Attorneys will serve as legal counsel for 2023.
Trina Huff as approved as treasurer with Nancy Means as deputy treasurer with an established bond of $25,000 for each.
The board will continue to use the practice of a recording secretary for an alternate to record all business transactions during an official meeting. It is recommended the treasurer and deputy treasurer share this duty at a rate of $75 per meeting.
Tiffany Foster will serve as the legislative representative to serve as the delegate to the ISBA Fall Conference.

The Board will continue to meet monthly at 6 p.m. at the JCD Elementary Library on Monday evenings. They approved using Ripley Publishing Co., as the print media representative for the school corporation’s legal advertising in 2023.

The Board approved the superintendent to serve as the member of the board of managers for the Southeastern Career Center, the contact person representing the corporation for Title IX (sexual harassment, discrimination), to serve as the corporation section 504 coordinator and the principals serve as coordinators for their respective buildings to address any concerns with handicaps of an employee or student. It is also recommended that the superintendent be appointed the school representative for the Ripley-Ohio-Dearborn Special Education Cooperative, the Wilson Center, and Civil Rights for 2022.

The Board approved James Gayheart and Tiffany Foster for the personnel committee. The Board approved Gayheart and Michael Davis for the facilities committee with Debra Roberts and Dan Horn for the safety committee.

Under Action Items:

Damiam Maggos gave a brief presentation on the possible options for future bonding projects.
The Board approved the minutes of the December 19, 2022 regular meeting, along with payroll and other claims for the year end. They approved the treasurer to pay claims to the end of the month since the January meeting was early.

The Board approved to receive a compensation of $2,000 per year, as well as a supplement of $75.00 per meeting, not to exceed $2,900 per year.

Information was given out concerning Corporation Bylaw 144.3, Conflict of Interest, and Indiana Code 35-44-1-3. Any public servant is required to complete a uniform conflict of interest disclosure statement when necessary. It was noted there are currently no conflicts of interest among the members.

Superintendent Sam Melton said he was excited to begin his new position at JCD.

The next regular meeting of the Jac-Cen-Del School Board of Trustees will be held on Monday, February 20 at 6 p.m. at the Jac-Cen-Del Elementary Library.

Editor’s Note:
Information for the above article was taken from unofficial minutes from the January 2023 meeting.