August 12, 2022
By: Dwayne Page
Goodbye Kate!
Fourth District Board of Education representative Kate Miller met with her colleagues for the last time as a member of the board during Thursday night’s regular monthly session.
Miller, who has served on the Board of Education since 2014, is stepping down when her term ends on August 31. She chose not to seek re-election this year and will be succeeded by Eric Ervin who won the seat in last Thursday’s County General Election. His four-year term begins September 1.
Director of Schools Patrick Cripps praised Miller for her service. “This is the last night for one of our board members. We would like to say thank you to Ms. Miller for her service and dedication to our students, faculty, staff, and community. She has a servant heart and that is to be commended. We appreciate everything she has done for our schools and the system,” said Director Cripps.
“I want to thank you for the kind words,” said Miller. “Its been a pleasure working with Mr. Cripps and the board. Its always been such a great honor to represent the fourth district and serve DeKalb County. I learned a lot being on the board and I am proud of all our accomplishments. There are still a few goals we have that we didn’t get accomplished that I had hoped we would while I was on the board but I know you will continue to work hard and do great things for the schools and DeKalb County. I appreciate all the support of the community and I wish Mr. Ervin the best,” said Miller.
Board Chairman Shaun Tubbs also bragged on Miller and the board as a whole for accomplishments made in recent years and he congratulated Incumbent board members Danny Parkerson, Alan Hayes, and Jim Beshearse, along with newcomer Eric Ervin on their election last week.
“Its been a joy to serve on the board with you Kate,” said Tubbs. “I think it speaks volumes to this board that we are staying intact. I think it shows the confidence and trust the community has in us as a whole. I am very proud of the accomplishments that this board has made. When I first got on the board one of the things I wanted to implement was more technology in our school system. We now have Chrome books for each student. We also have a new soccer field approved for the junior high and high school soccer teams. We have added courses to our high school vocational program. We have cosmetology and megatronics this school year. We have also provided the largest pay increase for our teachers and bus drivers. When we started our wages were among the bottom third and now we are in the top third in this area. All of that was done without a tax increase. We have increased security at all of our schools. We have the anti-ram barriers (concrete balls) in front of our schools. We have SRO officers at each school and now we have included vestibules at the schools. We are adding air conditioning units to all the gymnasiums. These are the types of things the community should be proud of due to strong leadership top to bottom from our director to the school board, our principals, administration, teachers, bus drivers and all the support staff. That’s what it takes. Each year has its own set of challenges and I think so far we have gotten off to a great start and I hope we have a prosperous 2022-23 school year,” said Chairman Tubbs.
In other business, Director Cripps updated the board on student enrollment numbers which are up in the elementary grade levels but down overall from last year at this time.
“We are a little above 3,000 as students continue to flow in and flow out. It appears the elementary level is really growing and with those numbers the one thing you have to look at are the average and maximum numbers of students that can be in those classrooms so we are at the point where we are looking at having to add at least one teacher at one grade level,” said Director Cripps.
Cripps is still working to fill a few remaining open positions within the district and he says more bus drivers are needed.
“We don’t have all positions filled. If anybody wants to drive a bus we are taking applications. Thanks to our parents for being patient with that. Trust me if we had drivers we would put them to work. Be patient because we are getting new students daily. Right now drivers don’t always know where they are going and kids don’t always know where they are going. The challenge for a bus driver is when you ask a kindergarten student what his mamma’s name is and he says mama but we’ll try to get it all straightened out,” said Director Cripps.
For the most part, Cripps said the first week of school has gone well.
“We did have a good start to the first week. I appreciate our faculty, staff, bus drivers and everyone. Yesterday (Wednesday) we had a minor hiccup due to flooding at the middle school and high school but kudos to the faculty and staff, administration, custodians, and our maintenance crew who got in there and cleaned it all up because at one time I was worried if we would make it to school today (Thursday) but I went back out at 6:30 p.m. or 7:00 p.m. last night and it looked like nothing ever happened so I want to say thank you to them for the hard work they did,” added Director Cripps.
In other business, the board approved the launching of a new tennis program at DeKalb Middle School.
The monthly personnel report was presented to the Board.
Employment:
Jacob Greer, teacher at Smithville Elementary School (SES)
John Figgins, teacher at SES
Jaley Hale, Educational Assistant at SES
Crystal Moore, Educational Assistant at Northside Elementary School
Jessica Tatrow, Secretary at DeKalb Middle School
Brittany Bogle, Educational Assistant at SES
Talitha Shirah, Educational Assistant at SES
Crystal Horton, Educational Assistant at SES
Priscilla Campbell, Teacher at SES
Rita Umstead, Cafeteria
Tracy Kyle, Cafeteria
Rainey Hunt, Cafeteria
Dennis Patz, Cafeteria
Charlotte Bertsch, Cafeteria
Leave of Absence as Requested: Ally Atnip
Transferred:
Tara Driver transferred from Educational Assistant to Teacher at Northside Elementary School
Jennifer Salas, transferred from Educational Assistant to Teacher at Northside Elementary School
Resignations/Retirements
Jodi Lester, Secretary at DeKalb Middle School
Isla Ledbetter, Bus Driver and Educational Assistant at DeKalb Middle School