Updated handbooks and current construction projects were the subject of the Northeastern Wayne Schools June 17 board meeting. President Shawntel Baker and Secretary Daniel VanDuyne were absent.
Student handbooks were approved incorporating Indiana’s new phone ban policy, prohibiting student cellphone use throughout the school day. Superintendent Jennifer O’Brien explained phones can either be kept at home, or remain in lockers from bell-to-bell. After becoming law earlier this year, Indiana SB 78 restricts the use of wireless communication devices during school hours.
The board approved new job-specific employee handbooks, addressing policies for certified, classified contractual and classified non-contractual employees. They also approved a benefits handbook, compiling previously known practices in one place.
In the administrative report, O’Brien detailed several construction updates. The gym will remain closed through July to ensure steel reinforcements are properly anchored. The track project is on schedule, with new bleachers installation in August. Framing at the Ag building has begun and a wall covering at the middle/high school will be repaired to be more aesthetically pleasing.
O’Brien congratulated 47 students for passing the mandatory U.S. Citizenship and Immigration naturalization examination; thanked maintenance and custodial staff for their summer work, welcomed new school resource officer Jeff Carico and wished good luck to all Wayne County 4-H Fair participants.
The board also approved an MOU with Centerstone Health Services, and a second reading and two first readings of policy updates.
The board’s next meeting will be 6 p.m. July 15 in the student services building, 7299 U.S. 27 N. in Fountain City. The public may attend.
A version of this article appeared in the June 24 2026 print edition of the Western Wayne News.
