Greater Jasper Consolidated Schools updating student mental health policies and suicide prevention efforts

During Monday’s regular Greater Jasper Consolidated School Corporation board meeting, Assistant Superintendent of Student Support Services Ryan Erny updated the board on the district’s ongoing work to strengthen suicide prevention efforts.

The district has partnered with Dr. Ann Kelly, who reviewed the district’s existing suicide prevention policy and proposed revisions to its language. She is a Suicide Postvention Technician who writes suicide prevention and postvention policy for schools and organizations, and conducts psychological autopsies to help identify suicide risk factors. She chairs the National Association of Retrospective Fatality Analysis and previously led the Community Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Coalition in Mitchell, South Dakota, for 15 years.

The work has been extensive. Erny said he met with the district’s social workers to go through Dr. Kelly’s proposed changes section by section, comparing her edits with the district’s understanding of its role, which became an ongoing back-and-forth with her to refine the policy.

“She was really a big help, just to kind of maybe clear, make that language very clear and appropriate,” Erny said. “She) has given us some very good resources.”

Those resources have since been added to the district website. A banner on the Student Support Services page now links students directly to crisis resources. A parallel version was also created for parents, since, as Erny noted, “not all times of crisis happen during the school day.”

“We wanted to have that at their fingertips in a quick and easy way,” Erny said. “Go to our website. Here it is. Here’s a whole list of resources, not just locally but nationally, that parents and students are able to access.”

Here is the link to the resource page. The list includes both local and national resources.

Dr. Kelly is expected to present a high-level overview of the policy work directly to the board at an upcoming meeting, and also plans to meet separately with district administrators to review the changes discussed in the smaller working sessions.

Erny also reported that all of the district’s social workers are conducting QPR — Question, Persuade, Refer — suicide prevention training with every staff member across the district, delivered in 45-minute sessions scheduled during team meetings. He said the effort drew recognition from the Dubois County Mental Health Commission, where a commission member, Janet Schnell, “just recognized how much above and beyond Greater Jasper is doing in suicide prevention and making our staff aware of how to handle these situations.”

“I felt that was important to share with the board,” Erny said, “that the things that we’re doing, it’s being recognized out in the community, and how we’re trying to go above and beyond and just prepare all of our staff.”

If you or someone you know is struggling with thoughts of suicide, help is available. Call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, available 24/7.

Budget

The Greater Jasper Consolidated School Corporation board voted to authorize advertising its proposed 2027 budget, a required step under Indiana law ahead of the district’s fall budget process. The vote does not set a final tax rate — that determination comes later from the state.

Superintendent Dr. Tracy Lorey told the board the 2027 advertised tax rate is set at $1.9501 per $100 of assessed value, a figure intentionally set higher than the district expects to charge to ensure it can capture its maximum levy in the operations fund. The Indiana Department of Local Government Finance will set the final rate based on the district’s certified assessed valuation for 2027, any property tax caps affecting district revenue, and the district’s budgetary needs. For comparison, last year’s advertised rate was $1.8382, while the rate ultimately certified came in significantly lower, at $1.10.

The authorization allows the district to publish its budget notice, along with its Capital Projects Fund and bus replacement fund plans, on the state’s Indiana Gateway portal, as required by law, and to post the same documents on the district’s website.

Under the state’s required budget timeline, the district’s public hearing on the 2027 budget is set for the board’s September 28 meeting, with final adoption scheduled for October 26.

The motion passed unanimously.

The Greater Jasper Consolidated Schools board also took the following actions and received several updates during the meeting.

iREAD results

Curriculum Director Tina Fawks reported the district’s highest annual proficiency rate to date on the iREAD-3 assessment, the state’s third-grade reading benchmark. Combining spring and summer retest administrations, 94.2% of the relevant student cohort passed, compared to a statewide rate of 88.7%. Fawks said all district subgroups outperformed state averages, and noted the district is closing in on a 95% proficiency goal that mirrors the state’s own target. Among this year’s incoming third graders, 84.7% already passed the assessment as second graders — a 4.6 percentage point increase over the previous year’s cohort.

Fawks attributed the results to district-wide literacy initiatives, including explicit reading instruction, early identification of struggling readers, and tiered intervention support. Asked what happens to students who don’t pass, she explained that nearly all such students are granted a “good cause exemption” — allowed under one of five state-defined circumstances, including special education or English learner status — permitting them to advance to fourth grade while continuing targeted reading intervention and periodic retesting through seventh grade under a newly implemented state policy.

JHS Curriculum Warehouse

High school teachers have spent the past year developing what’s being called the JHS Curriculum Warehouse, a set of publicly accessible course documents now posted on the district’s academics webpage. Fawks said the project responds to state-level transparency requirements while also helping standardize instruction across multiple teachers of the same course and supporting teachers newly assigned to unfamiliar subjects.

Asked about unique offerings, officials pointed to the district’s German language program, a large slate of Advanced Placement courses, and an education pathway that lets students earn hands-on classroom experience, including paid capstone internships, before pursuing teaching degrees in college. One board member said a family member had used the program to graduate from Indiana State University in three years.

Officials said the district is exploring adding AP Computer Science and a cybersecurity pathway, potentially for the 2027-28 school year, with some state funding support anticipated to help offset training and startup costs. Not every course is yet documented in the Warehouse — French and German are still being added following a recent curriculum resource adoption, and some career and technical education courses remain in progress. Courses offered only through the district’s CTE co-op, such as aviation, are not included, since they aren’t taught directly at the high school.

SCALE K-12 microelectronics project

The district is entering its fourth year participating in the SCALE K-12 project, a partnership with Purdue University, Indiana University, and the Regional Opportunities Initiative involving seven school districts statewide. The project has produced microelectronics curriculum content available to teachers nationwide. Fawks cited several district teachers integrating the material into their classrooms, including a fourth-grade unit, a seventh-grade English language arts project, and a high school math unit developed by a teacher who participated in this summer’s fellowship program.

ParentSquare, transportation, and school safety

Ryan Erny reported approximately 84% of district parents have signed up for the district’s new ParentSquare communication platform, with outreach ongoing — including targeted efforts to reach Hispanic families in their native language. All parents with valid contact information on file continue to receive urgent alerts regardless of signup status.

On transportation, Erny praised bus drivers for navigating ongoing road construction around town and highlighted a nomination — though not a win — for the district’s special education transportation team at the School Transportation Association of Indiana awards. The district also welcomed a new bus inspector, Brent Hoover, who has completed an initial inspection round, with additional inspections planned for September and a full fleet inspection in January.

On safety, the district completed site vulnerability assessments at Jasper High School, Jasper Middle School, Jasper Elementary, and Ireland Elementary, addressing minor issues such as signage and visitor parking.

Policy review

The board also received a batch of proposed policy revisions from Neola, the district’s policy management provider, which has switched to a new software platform. The board will review the changes ahead of a vote at its September meeting. The district’s next board meeting is scheduled for September 28 at 7 p.m.