The Jamestown Board of Education and JPS Superintendent Bret Apthorpe are passionate about taking bold actions to change the status quo. The Board of Education and Apthorpe worked together to create, and adopt, six district goals for the 2019-20 school year: alignment of student programming, create a middle school transition plan, long-term financial plan, long-term physical plant plan, student attendance and JHS Modernization. The last goal, JHS Modernization, requires the help of the local community through six subcommittees.

“Working together with Dr. Apthorpe, the Board decided on these six goals, one of which is the modernization of JHS,” said Paul Abbott, Jamestown Public Schools’ Board of Education President. “We know that many people choose to send their children to Jamestown because of the many academic and extracurricular opportunities that JHS offers. We want to ensure that every student has the ability to come out of Jamestown High School prepared for their future, whether that is going to college or entering the workforce. We want to give our kids the chance to participate in up-to-the-minute academic programming in state-of-the-art facilities. We chose the JHS Modernization as one of our six goals to focus on giving our kids the best chance at a great future.”

There are six JHS Modernization subcommittees that the community is encouraged to join at www.jpsny.org/committees: Academic Programming, Athletics, Music and Arts, Physical Plant and Maintenance, and Pool. Each of these subcommittees will report to the JHS Modernization Committee made up of local “thought leaders” to review each subcommittees’ recommendations and make final presentations of outcomes to the Jamestown Board of Education for review.

“There is a symbiotic relationship between the quality of a school district and the quality of life within a community,” said Apthorpe. “We have a lack of an employable workforce for our local businesses, JHS had a higher drop out rate than we would like to see, and JHS has many physical plant needs. We need the community’s input to help guide the district, and more specifically, Jamestown High School into the future.”

The Academic Programming subcommittee will provide specifications for learning spaces that support contemporary programming, which will align with New York State Department of Education requirements, college prep and the needs of the local labor market. Some of the subcommittees’ responsibilities are to research and identify best practices for contemporary learning spaces, identify learning spaces based upon student programming and where JHS does not reflect these best practices and can improve.

The Athletics subcommittee will identify and make recommendations of physical plant needs for contemporary athletic programming including Esports. Some of the responsibilities of the committee are: determining athletic programming best practices and physical plant requirements at JHS, recommend changes and identify costs and aid for both.

The music and art subcommittee will identify physical plant needs for contemporary music and arts programming. The subcommittee will identify best practices and physical plant needs at JHS and recommend specific changes and identify related costs.

The physical plant And maintenance subcommittee will determine if the JHS physical plant meets the needs of students. The committee will determine major JHS and district infrastructure/physical plant needs that have to be addressed. This committee will also make recommendations as to changes or maintenance that need to happen within the next seven years including estimated costs.

The pool subcommittee will conduct a fact-finding mission on replacing the JHS pool – as a stand-alone pool or a community pool – to support student programming. The subcommittee will determine the programming requirements of a district pool housed at JHS, investigate the legal nuances of a community pool shared with other non-for-profit organizations and identify costs and aid for both scenarios.

If a community member is interested in signing up for one of the JHS Modernization subcommittees, please go to www.jpsny.org/committees and click on the “Committee Interest Form” in the left hand column or call the Superintendent’s Office at 483-4420 for more information.