Director of Schools Patrick Cripps is still serving under a 30 day contract with the Board of Education pending a final agreement.
The school board intended to finalize the contract Thursday night but decided to put it off until legal counsel, who has already reviewed the agreement, is consulted again to make sure there are no provisions which conflict with state law. “The contract is a good viable contract but there are still some mistakes in it that our attorney may have (not corrected). He condensed it some. A lot of it relates to the Tennessee Code. We want to make sure that everything we want in the contract coincides with the Tennessee Code. I will check with him (attorney) Friday. He called me today (Thursday) but it was on my way to the board meeting so we didn’t have a lot of time to talk about it. He is available all day Friday so I am going to talk with him then. What we will do is work on getting the wording exactly like it needs to be. We have until August 17. If we get this information back (from legal counsel), have it emailed to you (school board members), and if everyone is agreeable with the contract and sign off on it in the form of an email making it official to us then the Director, myself, and the Vice Chairman will sign the contract and at the next board meeting we’ll make it part of the minutes at that time,” said Chairman W.J. (Dub) Evins, III.
Board member Danny Parkerson made a motion to adopt Evins’ recommendation. Board member Jim Beshearse offered a second to the motion. All members in attendance signaled their approval on a voice vote. Board member Jerry Wayne Johnson was absent due to an illness.
By a unanimous vote of 7-0, the Board of Education met in special session Thursday night, July 16 and named Cripps the next Director of Schools. Cripps accepted the board’s offer of a two year employment contract at a base salary of $85,000 per year. Cripps signed an initial 30 day contract which is valid until the board finalizes the deal.
In his monthly written report on personnel, Director of Schools Cripps presented a list of names of persons who have been hired, transferred, or resigned/retired since last month.
Employment:
Jill Bowman, teacher at DCHS, replaces Mary Ann Puckett
Brittany Campbell, teacher at DCHS, replaces Chelsa Burch
Joel Goff, teacher at DCHS, replaces Shea Wiegle
Tonya Perry, teacher at DCHS, replaces Karla Crabtree
Tracy Luna, teacher at DCHS, replaces Derek Schatz
Nathaniel Kennard, teacher at DCHS, replaces Taylor McDaniel
Mary Ann Blair, teacher at DeKalb Middle School, replaces Lori Alexander
Cheryl Vance, teacher at DeKalb Middle School, replaces Amy Key
Candace Jones, teacher at Smithville Elementary School, replaces Beth Cantrell
Leslie Moore, teacher at Smithville Elementary School, replaces Vicky Duke
Nicki Johnson, teacher at Smithville Elementary School, replaces Jessica Styer
Julie Hale, educational assistant at DeKalb West School, replaces Shelly Gibson
Lori Chew, interim teacher SPED Resource, fills position of Betsy Walker on a leave of absence
Deborah Gentry, teacher at DeKalb West School
Lindsay Floyd, teacher at Northside Elementary School, replaces Greg Hibdon
Lauri Sweeny, teacher at DeKalb Middle School, RTI (new position)
Eddie Dillard, teacher (ESL- English as a Second Language) at Smithville Elementary School (part-time) (new position)
Emily Summers, teacher at Smithville Elementary School, replaces Carrie Lee
Katie Stutts at DeKalb West School, replaces Evann Wilson
Cheryl Vandagriff, teacher at Northside Elementary School, replaces January Agee
Suzanne Caldwell, custodian at DeKalb Middle School, replaces Pauline Braswell
Substitutes:
Joyce Alexander, Guylene Atnip, Carolyn Caldwell, Donna Davis, Sue Driver, Betty Fisk, Debbie France, Vicki Haggard, Carol Hale, Charlene Hallum, Jimmy Hendrixson, Betty Hickey, Ester Holder, Shirley Ingram, LaTonya Kleparek, Sharon Moffett, Stephen Moore, Angela Osment, Jessica Rackley, Judy Redmon, Joyce Robertson, Virginia Rose, Bob Smith, Kim Taylor, Jan Thomas, Helga Thompson, Luanna Tollett, Brad Trapp, Jenny Trapp, Wanda Vickers, Melissa Wallace, and Kim Young.
Leave of Absence as requested:
Betsy Walker, Whitney Brelje, Felicia Warden, and Karen Jacobs
Transferred:
Jessica Styer from Smithville Elementary School to Northside Elementary SPED to replace Julie Styer
Amme Cantrell from DeKalb Middle School to DCHS SPED
January Agree from Northside Elementary to DeKalb Middle School SPED
Mary Ann Puckett from DCHS to DeKalb Middle School/DeKalb West School to replace Michael Littrell
Diana Moon from DeKalb West School to Northside Elementary School
Danny VanDyne from Smithville Elementary to DCHS to replace Carl Malone
George Storie from part-time cafeteria to full time custodian to replace Danny VanDyne
Beth Cantrell transferred to the Smithville Elementary School Computer Lab
Resignations/Retirements:
Lori Alexander, resigned
Lisa Bell, resigned
Derek Schatz, resigned
Chelsa Burch, resigned
Karla Crabtree, resigned
Michael Littrell, resigned
Alyssa Conger, resigned
Taylor McDaniel, resigned
Shelly Gibson, resigned
Greg Hibdon, resigned
Katie Collins, resigned
Vicky Duke, retirement
Amy Green, retirement
Corrine Seifert, resigned
Mike Merriman, resigned
Donald Haggard, resigned
Julie Styer, resigned
Dee Anna Reynolds, resigned