DCHS Recognizes Student, Parent, and Staff Member for the Month of March

May 13, 2024
By: Dwayne Page

DeKalb County High School Tuesday recognized its staff member, student, and parent of the month for March.

Each received a certificate from the school and a gift card for a meal from Twisted Oaks. A different restaurant offers a meal gift card to each month’s honorees.

Jamie Cripps, DCHS office bookkeeper was selected by the administration as Staff member of the Month while Senior Samuel Gaspar is Student of the Month, voted on by the teachers. The parent of the month is Ross Stanley, and this honor was based on a winning essay written by his daughter Alexis Stanley, a junior at DCHS.

“For the March Parent of the Month honor, Alexis Stanley wrote an essay for her dad Ross. The students here at DCHS submit essays and we read through them and select one based not necessarily on the academic quality, but the substance of the essay and Alexis’s essay was one that impressed us most. We thought she did an excellent job showing us what her parents do for her day in and day out and we wanted to reward them for their efforts in helping make sure Alexis is successful,” said Assistant DCHS Principal Thomas Cagle.

Alexis said writing this essay was a way to express what her father means to her. “My whole family but especially my dad does a lot for us. My grandma can’t work so its really just me and my dad that are able to work. He makes sure all the time we always have what we need. He never lets us down when it comes to that,” said Alexis.

Ross Stanley, Alexis’ father said he was overwhelmed to receive this honor adding that Alexis means everything to him and that he is proud of her.

“For our Student of the Month we have Samuel Gaspar,” said Cagle. “Samuel has been a vital office aide for us. He has done a lot especially as a translator and interpreter. Samuel has helped numerous new students who have come into our school acclimating them to their schedules, showing them around, and being a guide for them. He has been a great student role model for us at school. I wish I had a thousand more students that were as helpful, kind, and courteous as this young man. Samuel is definitely a young man who has earned this award,” said Assistant Principal Cagle.

“I feel incredible just receiving an award like this,” said Samuel. “I really haven’t had an award like this in a while. I’m at a loss for words. I have no way to express how I feel. Its surprising,” he said.

Gaspar said he plans to attend McMinnville TCAT and study auto mechanics and he may later transfer to further his education and skills on that career path at Lincoln Tech in Nashville.

Samuel has enjoyed his experience at DCHS. “I have learned a lot over the past four years. I have made a bond with a lot of the teachers and staff here,” he said.

Gaspar has a younger brother who is a student at Northside Elementary School.

Seventeen-year veteran educator Jamie Cripps was selected as the staff member for the month of March.

“Jamie really keeps this place going and all of us on track. We would be lost without her guidance, especially me being a new administrator for the last two or three years. I find it valuable to have her as part of this staff. She does a great job interacting with and being a friend to all the teachers and administrators. Jamie is very compassionate, loving, and caring and it shows in the way she relates with all of us in the office. We couldn’t be prouder to have her here at DCHS,” said Assistant Principal Cagle.

Jamie said the announcement of her being honored as staff member of the month took her by surprise, but she is thankful and humbled to have received it.

Cripps has spent her entire 17-year education career at DCHS. For the last eight years, Jamie has worked in the office as bookkeeper. In the beginning she worked in the CDC program before transitioning to the guidance office and then when dual enrollment went to an online offering, she moved to the classroom where she served for five years before taking the bookkeeper position.

May 12, 2024
By: Dwayne Page

Members of the DeKalb EMS willing to do so may soon be sharing medical examiner investigator responsibilities when there is an ambulance call involving a death. Director Hoyte Hale would serve as the backup if no staff member is available at the time.

During a meeting Thursday night, the county budget committee approved the EMS operating budget for the 2024-25 fiscal year which includes provisions for payment to EMS staff trained to perform this duty working under the physician who serves as the actual medical examiner/county coroner.  According to the plan, $5,000 would be budgeted including $2,000 (for payment) in the medical personnel salary line item and $3,000 for overtime. Director Hale would be expected to make quarterly reports to the county’s Health, Education, and Public Welfare Committee on how this new plan is working.

All five budget committee members in attendance voted in favor of this plan including Tom Chandler, Sabrina Farler, Glynn Merriman, Jeff Barnes, and Mathias Anderson. Members Susannah Cripps and Tony (Cully) Culwell were absent.

Originally, the proposal was to make Director Hale the primary medical examiner death investigator and pay him an extra $5,000 per year and to have EMS employees serve as the backup but the budget committee failed to approve this option on a 3 to 2 vote. Those voting for the plan were Tom Chandler and Mathias Anderson while Sabrina Farler, Glynn Merriman, and Chairman Jeff Barnes voted against it.

Assistant EMS Director Trent Phipps, who came up with this idea, explained to the budget committee how death investigation calls were previously handled by the ambulance service.

“We used to use off duty EMS personnel to answer these calls contracted through the courthouse and (Medical Examiner) Dr. Denise Dingle to do the job at $100 per call,” said Phipps.

“I proposed to him (EMS Director Hale) that we get a group of people willing to do this in their off-duty time and pay them. The EMS has a long-established call in policy which means that if I call someone in to cover an ambulance, we pay them for three hours whether they work two or three hours. Of course, if it goes over, we have to pay them over,” said Assistant Director Phipps.

“I asked him (Director Hale) if it would be a good idea to get off duty people trained to come and cover the medical examiner calls and we pay them for three hours unless they do it more which is not very common but to pay them at least three hours to do this,” explained Phipps. “I have had a conversation with several EMS employees and got three solid yeses’ (willing to participate), a bunch of no’s, and a few maybes. The main concern most of them had was will I get paid and how much will I get paid. The other concern they expressed was how many people are going to do this because they do not want to do it all the time,” Phipps continued. “If I can get numbers to (these) people I might get more cooperation. Several of the people who said yes are part time employees and they won’t get any overtime, just straight time to do it,” he added.

According to Phipps, this plan would ensure that a medical death investigator is available to make a prompt response when summoned by law enforcement.

“It was my idea to set a schedule, so dispatch doesn’t have to call a bunch of people, with the sheriff’s department waiting on somebody to get there. Of course, the ambulance is going to show up to start the preliminary things because we have to go, but this would provide a set schedule, so dispatch knows who to call. I will set up a calendar and fill it out every month for who is on call,” said Assistant EMS Director Phipps.

According to statistics, the county averages 50-60 bodies per year in which a medical examiner/coroner’s report is needed.

At a previous meeting, Director Hale had asked the budget committee to include funding for four new EMS employees, preferably paramedics which would have been needed partly to fully staff a 24/7 crew at the Liberty Fire Station. But after later voting to deny the request, the committee asked Director Hale to rework his budget for re-submission without the proposed four new positions.

During his budget presentation Thursday night, Director Hale explained that after removing proposed funding for four new employees, the line item for medical personnel salaries was reduced from $911,787 to $771,406 for the year.

Part time pay has been increased from $135,000 this year to $140,000 next year and the allocation for overtime pay has been adjusted back to $200,000, down from the original request of $250,000. A part time secretary would get a three dollar per hour increase in pay going from $12 to $15 under Director Hale’s request.

With at three EMS employees planning to attend paramedic school, Director Hale has asked that the budget for In-service training be upped from $18,000 to $40,000.

Meanwhile, Hale wants the allocation for vehicle maintenance and repair to be increased by $10,000 from $65,000 to $75,000 and that the budget for maintenance and repair to the EMS building be adjusted by $3,500 to $8,500. Plans are to replace garage door motors, add security cameras and keyed door pad locks, and to do some painting.

Again, the budget committee approved the proposed $1,818,633 EMS budget for 2024-25 as re-presented by Director Hale. The county commission will have to give final approval with passage of the consolidated budget in June.

May 12, 2024
By: Dwayne Page

The DCHS Tigerette Fast Pitch Softball Team, the District Tournament Champs, will host Marshall County Monday, May 13 in the first round of the Region Tournament in Smithville.

The game begins at 5:30 p.m. at the Danny Bond Field at DCHS and WJLE will broadcast the game LIVE with the Voice of the Tigerettes John Pryor.

The Tigerettes, 19-12, captured the District Tournament Crown last week beating Stone Memorial 11-1 on Thursday which put them in the winner’s bracket finals. DC defeated Upperman 12-0 on Friday before advancing to the championship game and getting a 12-2 win over Upperman in the re-match.

Tigerette Pitcher Kora Kilore was the Tournament MVP while fellow Tigerettes Elaina Turner, Rylee Wilbur, and Bri Murphy were also named to the All-Tournament Team.

For the regular season, Kora Kilgore was Pitcher of the Year. Bryna Pelham took Defensive MVP honors and Rylee Wilbur was awarded as Freshman of the Year.

Members of the Regular Season All Freshman Team were Brooklyn Fuson and Hannah Brown while Gracie Randolph, Bri Murphy, Raylie Cowan, and Zayleigh Bain made the All-District Team-Regular Season.

Meanwhile, the DCHS Tiger Baseball Team, District Tournament runners-up, concluded their season Saturday in the Region Tournament with a 13-1 loss to Lawrence County at Tullahoma.

The Tigers began post-season play in the District Tournament at Baxter on May 2 losing to the Bees 8 to 3 but then DC went on a three game win streak knocking off Cumberland County 6 to 3 on May 3 before beating White County 11-3 and Stone Memorial 9 to 8 on May 4. The Tigers emerged from the losers backet hoping for a rematch with Upperman in quest of a District Tournament Title  but weather intervened forcing them to settle for second place and a road trip to Tullahoma for the Region opener where they lost 8-0 to the Wildcats on Thursday night, May 9. The Tigers then were eliminated by Lawrence County 13-1 on Saturday.

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