Phil Jones
President of the Blackford Community School Board since 2017 and its District 3 member since at least 2015. In the board minutes the district has posted since 2019, he is not recorded casting a single 'no' vote. He also represents the school board on the county Area Plan Commission and faces Kerra Armstrong in November.
The 60-second story
Phil Jones (Philip N. Jones; "Philip Jones" in state audit reports) is the District 3 member and president of the Blackford Community School Board. He has served since at least 2015 and has led the board since July 2017, the same month Chad Yencer became superintendent. The board has kept him as president at every annual reorganization in the posted minutes, most recently 5-0 in January 2026.
Under his presidency the board closed Montpelier Elementary on a 4-1 vote in April 2022 and took a new performing arts center from a $37,125 preliminary design study, approved in February 2021, to a $19.8 million construction contract with Meyer Najem, approved 5-0 in January 2026. He chaired the June 2025 public hearing on the project and the August 2025 hearing on the lease amendment used to finance it. The district says the project was structured to keep the current tax rate.
Voting record: In the 64 meetings with minutes the district has posted from June 2019 through August 2026, Jones is not recorded casting a 'no' vote, and nearly every board decision in that span was unanimous. The two exceptions were a January 2022 officer election and the April 2022 Montpelier Elementary vote; the minutes for that 4-1 vote do not name the member who voted no, and Jones was present. As president he presides and does not make or second motions. The minutes show him present at at least 54 of the 64 meetings. Minutes for all of 2020 and 2023, January through May 2019, February through May 2024 and several other months are not posted; the Ledger has requested them.
Jones also sits on the Blackford County Area Plan Commission as the school board's representative. In July 2025 a trust in his and his wife's names, which held a two-thirds interest in a Jackson Township farm, and its co-owners sold 14.83 acres to Blackford Wind Energy LLC; in December 2025 he voted for amendments to the county's wind energy ordinance (see Conflicts). He was not listed as present at the school board meetings where the board accepted Blackford Wind Energy donations of $10,000 (July 2024) and $500 (July 2025).
He is seeking another term in November 2026 against Kerra Armstrong, a fellow Area Plan Commission member who also sits on the Board of Zoning Appeals.
Quick facts
- Office President, Blackford Community School Board (District 3)
- Board service Since at least 2015; president since July 2017
- Elections Re-elected unopposed in 2018 and 2022; faces Kerra Armstrong (APC and BZA member) in 2026
- Other role Blackford County Area Plan Commission (school board representative)
- Residence Hartford City area
- Party Nonpartisan filing (no party listed)
- School board 'no' votes 0 in the minutes posted since June 2019
- Attendance (posted minutes) Present at at least 54 of 64 meetings, June 2019 to Aug. 2026
Three things voters should know
He has led the board since 2017
Jones became president in July 2017 and has been kept in the post at every reorganization in the posted minutes, most recently 5-0 in January 2026.
His board almost never splits
Of the hundreds of motions in the minutes posted since June 2019, all but two passed without a 'no' vote, and he is not recorded voting no on any of them.
He presided over the performing arts center
He chaired the 2025 public hearings on the project, which grew from a $37,125 design study in 2021 to a $19.8 million construction contract in January 2026.
Biography
Jones lives in the Hartford City area; the 2016 Indiana School Boards Association directory lists a Hartford City mailing address for him. His occupation and education are not documented in the sources the Ledger reviewed.
State Board of Accounts audits have reported material weaknesses in the district's financial transactions and reporting in every audit since fiscal 2018. The FY2023-24 audit questioned $26,793 in child-nutrition costs and $173,841 in federal COVID-relief (ESSER) costs. The findings concern the district, not Jones personally.
Memberships & affiliations
Blackford Community School Board (President), Blackford Community School Board of Finance (President), Blackford County Area Plan Commission (school board representative)
Potential conflicts the Ledger has flagged
County property records show that on July 24, 2025, a trust held by Philip N. and Melissa V. Jones, which owned a two-thirds interest in a Jackson Township farm, sold a 14.83-acre parcel from that farm to Blackford Wind Energy, LLC for $296,600. Blackford Wind transferred the parcel to AEP Indiana Michigan Transmission Co. on Aug. 4, 2025. On Dec. 2, 2025, Jones, the school board's appointee to the Blackford County Area Plan Commission, voted with the majority on several amendments to the county's wind energy ordinance; the motions passed 8-0 and 7-1. Commission records reviewed by the Ledger do not show him disclosing the sale or abstaining. The Ledger is further inquiring about any disclosure.
Notable votes
Where the money came from
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