City Hires Caretaker for Golf Course and Manager for Pro Shop and Swimming Pool

March 15, 2019
By: Dwayne Page

City officials had expected to have a tenant at the Smithville Municipal Golf Course by now but after weeks of advertising no one has stepped forward with the proposal to lease it.

With the golf season about to get into full swing, the mayor and aldermen have chosen another course of action.

During a special meeting Thursday night, the aldermen voted to enter into a one year contract with Jimmy Lewis to be the caretaker of the golf course for $33,000. The board also voted to hire Jeania Cawthorn to be the manager of the Municipal Swimming Pool and Golf Pro Shop for $25,000 for the year. As a city employee, Cawthorn will be eligible for health insurance and any other benefits offered by the city.

The city will receive all revenues from the facilities but will continue to bear the expense of life guards, pool upkeep, and provide the equipment and fuel for mowing at the golf course.

In the absence of a full time operator, the city had been paying Ray Underwood just under $20,000 to be the interim caretaker of the course. With Lewis taking on the job, Underwood will be leaving.

“We put this out there and I know it has been on the forefront of everyone’s mind. We have practically begged people to put in a lease but we just couldn’t find anyone to take it,” said Mayor Josh Miller.

March 14, 2019
By: Dwayne Page

The Board of Education and Director of Schools Thursday night got their first look at the schematic design, site plan, and floor plan for a new Smithville Elementary School.

(CLICK LINK AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE TO VIEW PDF PLANS OF NEW SCHOOL)

Architects of Upland Design Group met with the board and director during an hour long presentation of the plans they have developed.

Four site plan options were presented for the proposed 109,000 square foot school with a student capacity of 800 for pre-kindergarten to second grade. All four options would have the new school on the same campus as Northside Elementary School.

The first site plan option proposes to fit the new school on the existing property with no additional land acquisition necessary. However, the architects said this option poses challenges as the new building would encroach on a natural sloping drainage area and playground space would be limited.

Option #2 proposes to expand the campus with the acquisition of 12 acres

Option #3 seeks to expand the campus with the addition of 21 acres.

(THE VIDEO BELOW SHOWS A PRESENTATION OF THE SCHEMATIC DESIGN AND THE SITE PLAN OPTIONS AND FLOOR PLAN FOR THE PROPOSED NEW PRE-K TO 2ND GRADE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TO BE BUILT ON THE PROPERTY AT NORTHSIDE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. ARCHITECTS OF UPLAND DESIGN GROUP PRESENTED THE PLANS TO THE BOARD OF EDUCATION THURSDAY NIGHT)

M2U02938 from dwayne page on Vimeo.

Option #4 would expand the Northside Elementary campus with the acquisition of 110 acres to provide room for construction of the new pre-K to 2^nd grade school and for future construction of a new high school (modeled after Stone Memorial High School in Crossville).

The Board of Education has not yet decided on which site plan option they will pursue but the floor plan for the new school will be as designed by the Upland Group.

The floor plan for the new elementary school calls for the building to have 10-second grade classrooms, 10-first grade classrooms, 10 kindergarten classrooms, and 8-pre kindergarten classrooms, plus the CDC and special education classrooms. Each classroom can accommodate up to 20 students.

Although the school is designed to be long, architects say the travel or walking distance for students on either end of the building to the shared space (center of the school) would only be 350 feet.

Once the Board of Education selects a site plan option, a Tennessee Department of Transportation traffic study will be conducted for the site.

School Board Meeting (PDF)

March 14, 2019
By: Dwayne Page

Based on overall high marks given by the Board of Education in a recent performance evaluation, Director of Schools Patrick Cripps has been awarded a two year contract extension, effective July 1, 2019 through June 30, 2022.

During Thursday night’s regular monthly meeting, the Board voted unanimously to grant the extension.

Cripps will earn the same salary $90,000 per year paid in twelve equal monthly installments in accordance with the policy. All other terms of Cripps’ contract also remain unchanged.

Cripps’ contract was to run through June 30, 2020, but with the two year extension, he will now serve as Director at least through June 30, 2022. Cripps has been Director since July, 2015.

Cripps was recently evaluated again by the Board and given overall good marks.

Results of the Board of Education’s annual performance evaluation of Director Cripps show he is meeting “most” expectations of the board.

Cripps’ overall average score is 4.22 out of a possible 6 score.

In accordance with state law, the school board is required to develop and implement an evaluation plan to be used annually for the director of schools. Board members used a four page evaluation form to rate Director Cripps (1-6) in each of 60 areas from eight categories including on his relationship with the Board, the Community, Staff and Personnel, Educational Leadership, Business and Finance, Personal Qualities, Strategic Planning Skills, and Tennessee Specific questions.

A rating of “1” meant his performance was “Consistently Below Expectations”. A “5” rating signified that Cripps “Met All Expectations”. A rating with an asterisk (*) symbol or 6 meant he “Exceeded Expectations”.

Other ratings were:
“2”-Meets Few Expectations
“3”-Meets Some Expectations
“4”-Meets Most Expectations

Each board member scored Cripps in all areas from the categories on the form. The scores were then averaged to arrive at the grand total score. The completed forms were sent to officials of the Tennessee School Boards Association where the scores were tabulated and averaged.

In the overall evaluation report, Cripps scored highest (4.50) in “personal qualities”. He scored lowest (3.90) in “strategic planning skills”.

A breakdown of Cripps’ scores in the eight goals evaluation were:

Performance Goal Average
Board Relationship
4.32

Community Relationships
4.10

Staff and Personnel Relationships
4.20

Educational Leadership
4.29

Business and Finance
4.38

Personal Qualities
4.50

Strategic Planning Skills
3.90

Tennessee Specific Questions
4.04

Grand Total
4.22

In other business, Director Cripps gave his monthly report on personnel.

Those granted a leave of absence are Brooke Anderson, teacher at Smithville Elementary School; Lacey Foutch, teacher at DCHS, and Martha Melching, teacher at DeKalb Middle School.

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