The DeKalb County Board of Education Thursday night authorized the Chairman and Director of Schools to do some research on the feasibility of a Time Management Study.
Time Management refers to managing time effectively so that the right time is allocated to the right activity. Board Chairman W.J. (Dub) Evins, III, who proposed the study, said the intent is not to get rid of personnel but to make the school system operate more efficiently. “In my experience in business and years ago in banking through LSU we did some time management studies. A lot of financial institutions do it and a lot of private businesses do it. It involves someone coming in and looking at different areas of the school system. It’s not in any way an implication that we’re trying to cut personnel. It’s to make sure that if someone has a work load that is too heavy then maybe there is someone who can assist in those ways. There are people who can come in from the outside and look at these kind of situations and tell you what you can do more efficient. That’s all it amounts to. It’s not someone coming in and saying you need to get rid of this person or that person. It’s someone coming in and saying here’s a way of doing this more efficiently. And if you can do it more efficiently then that opens up more opportunities and gives principals and everyone else more time all the way through the system to focus on three thousand kids. All I’m asking the board to do is to give me and Mr. Willoughby the authority to research this between now and the next meeting to see what potential costs there may be. I can assure you there will probably be enough savings somewhere to take care of that,” he said.
In other business, Director Mark Willoughby updated the school board on personnel moves since the September meeting.
Those employed are:
Nora Harvey, substitute nurse
Shea Colwell, substitute nurse
Ana Guzman, custodian at Smithville Elementary School
Cody Randolph, teacher at DeKalb Middle School
Transfers:
Sabrina Farler to Principal position at DeKalb West School
Joey Agee to Assistant Principal position at DeKalb West School
Resignations/Retirement
Danny Parkerson, Principal at DeKalb West School, retired
Brian Pack, custodian at Smithville Elementary School
Meanwhile, the DeKalb Middle School Computer Lab is being named in honor of long time educator Tom Hill while the DCHS Library will be named for Hill’s wife Marie and her mother, the late Nell McBride, who were both Librarians at DCHS.
The board approved the request as presented by Chairman Evins. “We can’t let things get out of hand to the point that we’re naming something after everyone but I think it’s very appropriate, and I have not talked to these people (Hill’s), but we’ve had two people who have retired. One of them is Tom Hill who was instrumental in the computer lab at the Middle School being what it is today. His wife, Marie Hill was the librarian at DCHS. She went above and beyond being a librarian and so did her mother, who preceded her. I would like for the board to consider naming the computer lab at DeKalb Middle School in honor of Mr. Tom Hill and the high school library in honor of Marie Hill and her mother, Mrs. Nell McBride with a plaque as we have done in other situations,” said Evins.
Sixth district board member Doug Stevens also paid tribute to former fourth district member Billy Miller, who resigned from the school board as of September 30. “He was instrumental in working with the county commission, school board, and the sheriff’s office so that we can have School Resource Officers (SROs) in each school. He laid the ground work and identified the land for the new soccer field that will be at Northside School. He had a big part in getting the soccer and cross country teams that we have now at the Middle School. I hope that when the county commission appoints somebody that they (appointee) will be as passionate about this position as Billy Miller was,” said Stevens.
“I am going to miss him as a board member. I just appreciate his service. I’ve been on here (school board) quite a while but I learned a lot from him. He was always straight forward in trying to do the right thing. We appreciate his service to the board,” added Chairman Evins.
Due to his having accepted a new job with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation which does not allow him to hold public office, Miller had to resign from the School Board. It’ll be up to the county commission to name his successor, who will serve as an appointee until the next regular election in August, 2016 to fill the unexpired term which ends in August 2018.
Meanwhile, as the board meeting got underway Thursday night, Chairman Evins called for a moment of silence in remembrance of former third district school board member Kenny Rhody, who died last month. He served on the board for twelve years from 2002 until his last term expired September 1, 2014.
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