Meet DCHS Girls Basketball Coach Brandy Alley

June 12, 2022
By: Dwayne Page

DeKalb County High School has a new girls basketball coach.

Meet Brandy Alley

The announcement was made Friday by DCHS Principal Bruce Curtis.

The 25-year-old Alley, a native and resident of Crossville, will succeed Coach Danny Fish who announced his resignation last month to take the boys basketball head coaching job at Warren County High School.

Although she has served as a travel ball coach and an assistant to head basketball coaches at White County, Cumberland County, and Stone Memorial spanning the last five years, this is her first head varsity basketball coaching job. In addition to her role as assistant, Alley also headed up or was involved in the freshman and junior varsity girls basketball programs during her time at those schools and was head girls volleyball coach for one year at Cumberland County High School.

While originally from Cumberland County, Alley’s family later moved to Murfreesboro. She played basketball and graduated from Riverdale High School in 2014. Alley furthered her education and basketball career at Faulkner University at Montgomery Alabama where she earned a Masters Degree in Biology. From there she attended Tennessee Tech University and earned a Masters Degree in Education Curriculum Instruction. Alley moved back to Crossville four years ago. Her parents now reside in White County. Coach Alley said her plans are to eventually move here.

Principal Curtis said he became acquainted with Alley when she was an assistant coach at White County High School.

“I’ve known Coach Brandy probably for four or five years. She came to White County when my daughter was there (student and basketball player) and worked with her quite a bit. Then she (Alley) moved onto Cumberland County and later to Stone Memorial working with Coaches Mike Buck and Radhika Miller, who are in my opinion two of the better coaches in the area. I felt like she (Alley) gained a lot of knowledge from them,” said Curtis.

Alley said she was excited to get the call from Principal Curtis and she is ready for the challenge.

“I was looking to further my career. I am very excited about being a head coach. DeKalb County is where my great uncle Bobby Hale started his head (football) coaching career decades ago and I have always kept up with the girls here especially with them having been in our district last year. I watched them play and loved them so as soon as he (Principal Curtis) presented me with this opportunity (to be head coach) I jumped on it and couldn’t be more excited,” said Coach Alley.

“The biggest thing I want to focus on with this program is taking the great foundation they have and keep pushing it further. One thing that always stood out to me was how much potential this group of girls has and how good of a foundation they have and how good they can be so we will take each day as a new opportunity for them to grow and develop and keep telling the girls that there is a lot more than just this game but that we can use this game as a tool to teach them how to be better people,” she continued.

“I know its going to take a lot of work but from what I know about these girls already is they will be willing to do it. They are very competitive and have potential to do some great things in this district and cause a stir. I really want to turn the work potential into action,” she concluded.

Coach Alley becomes the fourth female head basketball coach all time in the history of DeKalb County High School behind Helen Lee, Holly White, and Amy Tobitt.

Principal Curtis said bringing on a female coach to lead this program was important to him. “I was seriously wanting to try to find a female coach if we could for our girls. I just think that is something that in today’s society has become very important,” he said.

Coach Alley will meet her team for the first time Monday for a play day.

In the classroom, Coach Alley will be an English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher and when there is an opening, Principal Curtis said she will be moved into a biology and physical science teaching position.

June 12, 2022
By: Dwayne Page

City of Smithville residents will soon be getting a notice in the mail of an insurance program being offered to guard them against costly water leaks.

In March, the aldermen voted to enter into a contract with Water Leak Relief, LLC of Crossville.

For a monthly fee of $1.65 to residential customers, the Water Leak Relief program will help City of Smithville water customers pay for the high bills incurred when water leaks occur from the meter to the home on their property up $1,500 per occurrence. Only two claims are allowed within a 12-month period. The fee is included as a part of customers’ monthly bill. Those who don’t want to participate may opt out. Customers who opt out won’t be assessed the monthly fee on their water bill but also won’t be entitled to an adjustment in their water bill should they have a leak. The monthly fees will be assessed for coverage to begin in June.

“They (water customers) get two claims per year up to $1,500 each time,” said Water Leak Relief spokesperson Casey York. “If you have a water leak (meter to the house) inside the house, if a pipe bursts inside your house, it covers that. If your toilet is leaking, it covers that, but it’s got to be a leak. You can’t fill up your pool. That doesn’t count because that is not a leak. If it’s a leak, we cover the cost of the high-water bill. We don’t cover repairs. This also counts on sewer. For your customers who have sewer that price ($1.65 per month) is for both (water and sewer). If your average water bill is $50 and your average sewer bill is $50 you just pay the $1.65 per month and it covers the high-water bill on both of those. They (customers) pay their average bill. If over 12 months your average bill is $50 and you have a leak causing your water and sewer bill to be high, we cover everything twice a year up to $1,500 for each claim,” York said.

The protection program also provides coverage for commercial single occupancy customers ($4.21 per month) and commercial multi-occupancy customers ($7.70 per month) under the same terms and conditions as residential customers. Relief is also available to residential and commercial customers for water and sewer line repairs on their property up to a $10,000 limit per year. Added monthly fees for this coverage is $4.65 for residential water line and $6.45 for residential sewer line relief. The added monthly costs for commercial single occupancy customers would be $13.45 for each water and sewer line relief and $26.96 for commercial multi-occupancy customers for each water and sewer line relief.

“We also offer water line and sewer line relief,” York continued. “All your customers are opted into the water line relief, but they can out opt of that at any moment. They will get a letter 30 days before it goes on their first bill, and they can opt out and back in at any time. The water line and sewer line relief cover your repairs, commercial or not. It’s a main water line repair up to $10,000 once a year. For residents the monthly fee is $4.65 or $13.45 for commercial customers but it’s worth it especially if you have ever had to dig up concrete to repair a line because it’s very expensive,” added York.

The basic protection for residential customers who pay the extra $1.65 per month on their water bill will cover excess water charges resulting from a plumbing leak including interior frozen water line/plumbing, for which the customer has sole responsibility, that supports their residence or business.

In order for a customer to qualify, the leak must meet the city’s current leak policy, occur on the customer’s side of the meter, must be accidental in nature, must be repaired within a period of 10 days from discovery with proof of repair to the city.

To be eligible to receive a benefit, the customer’s water bill must be for an amount that is 200% or greater than the customer’s average monthly water bill as defined in the terms and conditions. Normal monthly water bill means the average dollar amount of the 12 previous months’ bills. A customer may only receive two benefit claims during any 12-month period. Benefit claims will be made for up to two months for a single leak occurrence.

If a customer was notified by the city of a leak and did not make the needed repairs within 10 days, no benefit claim would be granted.

Water Leak Relief, through an insurance policy with Plateau Casualty Insurance Company of Crossville, will take the amount of a customer’s current water bill with the leak and subtract the average of the last 12 water bills. The city will be paid the difference up to the benefit limit of $1,500.

For example, if the customer’s water bill with the leak is $1,000 and the average water bills for the last 12 months is $50, the customer would pay the city $50, and Water Leak Relief would pay the city $950. Any charges above the $1,500 limit would be the customer’s responsibility.

The program does not cover the following:

*Any cost associated with repairing the customer’s water service line

*Customers with multiple living units on a single meter such as a campground, trailer park, motel, etc. are not eligible for a benefit claim, except as included in multiple occupancy commercial service customers.

*Routine dripping faucets

*Premises left vacant or abandoned without reasonable care for the plumbing system

*More than two occurrences per 12-month period

*Filling of swimming pools

*Watering of lawns or gardens

*If a customer becomes aware of a potential problem with the plumbing which could cause a leak and that problem is not resolved by turning off water flow to the leak source within five days.

*If a customer has been notified of a suspected leak and does not repair the leak within 10 days of becoming aware

*Faulty water meter

*Improper meter reading

*Natural acts or disasters

*Pressure washing or other external cleaning products

*Sprinkler system leaks

*New construction buildings that are unoccupied.

June 11, 2022
By: Dwayne Page

Tennessee Education Commissioner Dr. Penny Schwinn visited Smithville Elementary School on Friday as a part of the ‘Accelerating TN 2022 Tour.’

The initiative spans 50 school districts in three weeks to highlight summer learning opportunities in different school systems. As the Commissioner and those who accompanied her stepped off the bus, she was greeted by Director of Schools Patrick Cripps, members of the central office staff, SES Principal Summer Cantrell and teachers at the school. State Representative Terri Lynn Weaver was also there.

These summer programs stem from the Tennessee Learning Loss Remediation and Student Acceleration Act and Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement Act, which is the first update in over 30 years to the way the state funds public education.

“The tour is going well,” said Commissioner Schwinn. “We are able to talk to students, teachers, and district leaders about the great work they are doing in the public schools in our state and frankly it’s an opportunity to celebrate the great work of our schools. We talk about a lot of things that are wrong but there is so much more that’s right and you get to see that on tours like this,” she said.

“I am hearing a lot of really strong excitement about early reading on the tour. There’s a lot of focus there. People are loving summer school and wanting that funding to continue because they are seeing great results. We are seeing some kind of stress around getting scores back and what that means but I am feeling very optimistic about achievement and what we will see in our state tests. I am also seeing a lot of relief to get back to normal. A lot of folks say it feels like we are back to who we are and what we know how to do, and we can do our jobs and see great results with our kids,” she continued.

During her visit to Smithville Elementary School, Commissioner Schwinn went into classrooms and sat with children as they were doing their summer schoolwork.

“I just asked the students what they like about the summer programming, what was their favorite subject. Some liked math. Others liked reading and STEM. Everyone liked recess and snacks. I also wanted to learn more about them. We had a couple of students talk about what it meant to them to be in summer school and how important it was and how successful they feel. You can’t measure that on a test, but you see there is more impact besides just the economics and that’s lovely,” she continued.

During the General Assembly’s 2021 special legislative session on education, legislators passed the Tennessee Learning Loss Remediation and Student Acceleration Act, which set forward a path for all districts’ current and future summer programming opportunities to benefit students and accelerate achievement. This year, the General Assembly passed the Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement (TISA) Act, which updates the way the state funds public education for the first time in over 30 years and prioritizes the needs of each individual student. Commissioner Schwinn said she is excited about what TISA will do for education in the state

“It’s the largest investment especially in recurring dollars that we have ever done in public education. I am very grateful to the governor and general assembly. It will impact districts like DeKalb County which will get more funds to do this great work and do it even stronger than they have before,” said Commissioner Schwinn.

“It was great to see the Commissioner and show her what is happening in our summer camps and the great work that our teachers, administrators, and students are doing. She got to go into the classrooms and see some of the work the students were doing. She enjoys visiting with kids and likes to see things from their prospective as well,” said Director Cripps.

Summer school is a state mandated program, but student participation is voluntary.

“We have to provide it for students up to seventh grade but in our case, it goes up to the high school level where we use federal funding for that program. It gives kids the opportunity to work on skills to get ready for next year. At the high school level, it helps those kids that may not have passed a class to recoup that credit and take the next class available for them,” said Director Cripps.

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