With burglaries and thefts on the rise recently, Sheriff Patrick Ray is asking you to be more aware of your surroundings to guard against becoming a victim.
“If there are strange vehicles or people walking in your neighborhood who you don’t know, call us and we will come and check them out”, said Sheriff Ray. “Most thieves will case out houses to break into. Thieves will try to figure out a “day to day pattern” of victims to try and set a time to break into the victim’s residence.”
Sheriff Ray also urges you to keep your vehicle doors locked when they are parked and unattended. “Thieves have entered unlocked vehicles and broken out windows trying to steal items they have seen lying in the vehicle such as gifts, purses and bags. GPS devices are also a target. Make sure to take down your GPS device off the window including the suction cup. A GPS suction cup stuck to a window tells the thief that the GPS is probably in the glove box or under the seat. There have been vehicle thefts like this in the western part of the county around the Snows Hill area. If at anytime of the night you hear a noise such as a bang or glass breakage, we encourage you to call us immediately so a deputy can check it out.”
“We have also had theft reports in the Dale Ridge Road and the Temperance Hall areas where thieves have been stealing items such as lawn furniture, rocking chairs, hose pipes, gas grills, wooden benches, and power lawn tools such as leaf blowers. ”
“Motion lights are great tools to keep thieves away from your vehicle, home, and outbuildings. A motion light will activate if something or someone moves in front of the sensor alerting you something is out there. The motion light is inexpensive and easy to install.”
“If you notice any suspicious activity in your neighborhood, you may call the Central Dispatch Center at 215-3000 so an officer can assist or if you know of anyone selling items such as the ones listed above, you may call me at 597-4935 or the Crime Tip Line at 464-6400. All calls are kept confidential.”

The DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department has made an arrest in a theft investigation, in which the same residence was burglarized twice within days of each incident.
Sheriff Patrick Ray says detectives arrested 26 year old Bradley Shane Redmon of Young Green Road, Smithville Saturday, March 14th after an investigation into two burglaries and thefts at the same residence.
Detectives received the first report on March 2nd. Taken from the residence were a Bose surround sound system, laptop computer, 3 flat screen televisions, a DVD player, CD player, Xbox and a play station 3 consoles, television stands, battery charger, a jump start box, Hinkle knife set, 2005 Honda rancher four wheeler, and other items valued at over $16,000. Detectives were able to recover the Honda four wheeler on Wednesday March, 11th. Then on Thursday March,12th, detectives received a separate report from the same residence that another break in had occurred there and the four wheeler had been stolen again.
Detectives interviewed Redmon and he admitted his involvement in the crimes. He also told them the location where the four wheeler had been taken. Most of the stolen items were recovered including the four wheeler.
Redmon was charged with 2 counts of aggravated burglary, one count of theft over $10,000, and one count of theft over $1,000. His bond was set at $225,000 and he will appear in court on March 26th. More arrests are pending.
Meanwhile, Sheriff’s Department Detectives responded to a break in on Wednesday, March 11th at the Intimate Pleasures business on Highway 70 East. Shortly after the break in, Detectives arrested 33 year old Billy Paul Mooneyham of Parkway Drive, Smithville. A search warrant was executed at Mooneyham’s residence and some of the stolen items were found in his vehicle. Mooneyham was charged with burglary and theft of property. His bond was set at $35,000. While being housed at the DeKalb County Jail, Mooneyham broke a fire sprinkler head in the cell which caused a loss of 100’s of gallons of water and damage to jail equipment. Mooneyham was charged with vandalism and his bond was set at $2,500. He will appear in court on all charges March 26th. More arrests are pending in the burglary and theft investigation.
39 year old Christopher Neil Patterson of Big Hickory Court, Smithville was stopped Monday, March 9th on Highway 70 West after deputies received a call about a drunk driver. Officers noticed Patterson had slurred speech and was very slow and uncoordinated. Patterson submitted to field sobriety tasks which he failed. Deputies also found a bag on Patterson’s person which contained 39 pills believed to be Xanax. Patterson was arrested and transported to the DeKalb County Jail and charged with a first offense of driving while intoxicated and possession of a schedule IV drug (Xanax). His bond was set at $4,000 and he will appear in court on March 26th. Patterson was also issued a citation for violation of the implied consent law after he refused a blood test.
Deputies stopped 41 year old Steven Eugene Olson of Foster Road, McMinnville on Friday, March 13th for weaving on Highway 70 East. Officers noticed that Olson had slurred speech and an odor of alcohol on his person. After failing field sobriety tasks, Olson was placed under arrest for a first offense of driving under the influence. His bond was set at $1,500 and he will appear in court on April 9th.
Deputies received a call Sunday, March 15th at a business on Highway 70 west where someone kept passing out while trying to eat his breakfast. Deputies stopped the vehicle and found 35 year old Jeffery L. Sanders of Lincoln Street, Smithville to be intoxicated. Deputies performed field sobriety tasks on Sanders which he failed. Officers asked Sanders to submit to a blood test and his response was to “Take me to Jail”. Sanders was charged with a first offense of driving under the influence and he was issued a citation for violation of the implied consent law. His bond was set at $1,500 and he will appear in court on March 26th..
Also on Sunday, 30 year old Bert Charles Scott Jr. of South Judkins Lane, Smithville was arrested after officers found him in control of his vehicle that had run off of the roadway into a ditch on Rolling Acres Road. Deputies noticed a strong odor of alcohol on his person and Scott was very unsteady on his feet. Scott submitted to field sobriety tasks which he failed. Scott also could not produce a valid driver’s license. He was arrested and charged with a first offense of driving under the influence and no driver’s license. His bond was set at $2,500.00 and he will appear in court April 2nd.
47 year old Bret Kenneth Boring of Johnson Chapel Road, Sparta was stopped Sunday for traffic offenses. Boring was found to be impaired and officers administered field sobriety tasks which he failed. A computer check of Boring’s license also revealed them to be suspended for failure to satisfy a citation. Boring was charged with a second offense of driving under the influence and driving on a suspended license. His bond was set at $4,000 and he will appear in court on April 23rd.

Smithville Police have arrested the two men believed to have been responsible for an attempted robbery at Bumpers Drive-In on Friday, March 6th.
Detective Jerry Hutchins, Jr. says 26 year old Ashley Jerome Ferrell and 25 year old Johnny Lynn Devault are both charged with one count of criminal attempt for robbery. Ferrell is also charged with one count of assault while Devault is charged with one count of criminal responsibility for assault. Bond for both men is $30,000 each and they will appear in General Sessions Court April 2nd.
Detective Hutchins says Ferrell was interviewed Wednesday after being picked up by police and gave a statement admitting to his involvement in the crime. Devault was picked up at a local grocery store Saturday.
Ferrell was a passenger of a Chevy pickup truck he owns, driven by Devault, who pulled in at Bumpers Drive-In around 6:40 p.m. Friday night, March 6th.
According to Detective Hutchins, Ferrell got out of the truck and stayed hidden behind the building as Devault pulled into a stall and ordered a drink. Before the car hop delivered the order, Ferrell allegedly motioned for Devault to drive around to another stall in a more secluded area to the back of the building, which he did.
After the car hop delivered the order and started away from the truck, Ferrell allegedly came up behind her and grabbed the apron she was wearing, which contained a money bag. The car hop sustained a minor injury in the attack. As she screamed for help, the car hop also turned and struck Ferrell with the metal serving tray she was holding. Ferrell, who fled on foot, did not get the money bag, but did apparently drop some cash as he made his getaway.
A male car hop, who heard the screams of his fellow employee, initially chased after Ferrell but gave up the chase, to pick up the bills left on the ground. Ferrell did not escape with any money from the restaurant.
Meanwhile, the driver got out of the truck and came to the front door of the restaurant, telling the manager that he had forgotten to give the car hop a tip. And when he was asked to stay and give an account of what he had seen to the police upon their arrival, the man got back in the truck and left. Restaurant employees got the tag number of the truck and reported it to police.
Police say Devault picked up Ferrell on Bright Hill Road and they were last seen going out the Cookeville Highway.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the Smithville Police Department have issued an alert for a missing four year old child from Smithville, believed taken in a family abduction.
The child, Timothy Landis Carter Adcock, has been missing since February 12th. He is believed to be with his non-custodial mother, 46 year old Deisy Kronfel Adcock. According to authorities, the woman and child may be traveling in a red 2002 Ford Taurus and could be in Louisiana, Texas, or still in the local Tennessee area.
A custodial interference warrant was issued for Ms. Adcock on March 13th.
The child is described as a white male with brown hair and brown eyes. He is three feet, six inches tall and weighs 42 pounds.
Ms. Adcock has brown hair and brown eyes. She is five feet, six inches tall and weighs 140 pounds.
Call the Smithville Police Department at 615-597-8210 or 615-215-3000 with any information you may have.

The Smithville Police Department will be conducting sobriety checkpoints on Saturday, March 21st in a better effort to keep our roads safe and to deter impaired driving. The Smithville Police Department has also increased it’s Traffic enforcement effort and saturation patrols. The sobriety checkpoints will be taking place in the area of Highway 70 east, Highway 56 south, and Short Mountain Highway. The Smithville Police Department is continuing to work with the Governor’s Highway Safety Office in these efforts.

If you didn’t complete your high school education, you can go back to school through the adult high school program.
Coordinator and Instructor Susan Hinton says many people have taken advantage of this opportunity.”This is about our third year in existence. This particular year, we have served over thirty seven students. I have approximately eight students who will have graduated, as of this week. I expect about three or four more students to graduate soon. The students graduate as they finish their course work. We will have a graduation ceremony in September.”
“I get many calls from people wanting to get into the program, but I refer them to DCHS School counselor Lori Barnes-Myrick. Call her at 615- 597-2243 or set up an appointment with her. She will go through your record and determine how many credits that you have. There are different qualifications depending upon what years you were enrolled in high school. The state requires participants to take a reading exam and you have to be reading on an 8.1 level in order to come into the program. If you are transferring from another school system, the requirement is that you do have to live in DeKalb County. She (counselor) checks the school record to determine the credits needed. To receive any high school credit, all students must have twenty credits. That’s basic credits. That also has to be in certain subjects.”
“The classes meet from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. each day (on the high school campus). Adult high school student have two scheduled breaks during the day and they have a one hour period at lunch. They may go anywhere they wish, but we close down the building from noon until 1:00 p.m. That enables them to go home, if they need to check on their families or whatever. After lunch, they come back and we open again at 1:00 p.m. Our schedule runs concurrent with the program of the regular school system. In other words, if schools are out for a snow break or other inclement weather, we are also out. If it’s a teacher/faculty day, then schools are closed at the adult high school. The only exception is that instead of the regular summer school, adult high school is open all day again and that happens around the month of June. So it’s kind of a year round program.”
Hinton says students who attend the adult high school are not taking a short cut to obtaining their diploma. “Each student is independent in their subjects, so they’re pretty much self guided. Each course has it’s own set of criteria, depending upon what subject the student is working in. I also do career counseling with them and we have guests in from time to time to talk to them about various careers. There’s not a short cut. Each class takes 133 hours and that is clock hours. They have to do the work to match the clock hours. They have to pass that subject. In other words, if they sit in there and they do the time and don’t do the work or pass then they will fail. It would be an “F”. A half of a credit is 70 hours so they have to do 70 clock hours plus the work that goes with that subject. So there’s not a fast cut. They can only do one credit at a time. I also have some high school students who have already had a course and did not complete it for credit. So for them there is what is called Credit Recovery and sometimes they can go back and pick up a class by doing computer work that matches that class. But even that is quite a bit of work. That is not a short cut either. There is no short cut to getting a high school diploma.”
In addition to Hinton, the adult high school staff is made up of W.C. Braswell and Beverly Ferrell
For more information call the high school guidance department at 615- 597-2243 or the adult high school at 615-597-2254.

Fourteen DeKalb County High School students recently competed in the Regional National History Day at Middle Tennessee State University.
Freshmen students Kalli Mitchell, Laura Pafford and Amanda Laxton placed 2nd in the Senior Division Group Display Board category with their entry, “Elizabeth Blackwell: The Woman Who Changed Medical History.”
Freshmen students Katelyn Goodwin, Taylor Cantrell and Sydney Robinson placed 2nd in the Senior Division Group Documentary category with their entry, “Hometown Hero.”
Junior student Tiffany Young placed 2nd in the Senior Division Individual Documentary with her entry, “Nikola Tesla: The Man Who Made the Future.”
These students will go on to compete at the State History Day held in Nashville on April 4, 2009.
(The accompanying digital photo is of six of the seven students going on to compete in the State History Day competition. From left to right, they are: Katelyn Goodwin, Taylor Cantrell, Laura Pafford, Tiffany Young, Amanda Laxton and Kalli Mitchell)

Kelly Services is having a JOB FAIR Monday, March 16th.
The JOB FAIR will be held at the First United Methodist Church Fellowship Center located at 102 West Church Street in Smithville from 9:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m.
Applications are being accepted to fill more than 140 light industrial jobs at Federal Mogul, available immediately. Persons hired will earn $8.54 to $10.37 per hour and will have a chance to earn $50 referral bonuses for each person referred who completes 120 hours of work.
For more information, call Kelly Services at 1-866-513-5694, 215-8900, or apply in person at 409 East Broad Street in Smithville Monday through Thursday from 9:00 a.m. until 11:00 a.m. or from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Being physically active is one of the best things you can do to improve and maintain your health, yet nearly two-thirds of Americans aren’t getting the activity they need. Consider taking up walking with friends or your family by participating in Walk Across Tennessee, which is an eight-week program that will spark some friendly competitions in DeKalb County. Beginning March 28th teams of up to eight will compete to see who can log the most miles walking, jogging, biking, and other forms of exercise in their community. Biking or jogging teams can have a team of four. The miles walked are not literally across the state, but reported on a map posted at Greenbrook Park and the DeKalb County Walk Across Tennessee website each week.
Since everyone participates in a variety of sports, the Walk Across Tennessee program also has an exercise conversion chart so that participants can count aerobics, swimming, weight lifting, etc. Teams can walk together to make it more fun or they can walk on their own. To make the competition fair to everyone, this year exercise cannot be counted during work hours.
“Teams will keep track of their miles, which will be posted in the Extension office and other places around the community. Teams can be composed of coworkers, teachers, students, family, neighbors, etc. This is an excellent team competition for the workplace and schools” said April Martin, DeKalb County Extension Agent.
According to Martin, “Last spring we had over 400 people on 53 teams. This is one of the largest Extension Walk Across Tennessee programs on record across the state, so we have been thrilled about the community’s interest. The overall top winning team last spring was Star Night Owls, a team from Star Manufacturing, who won the rotating trophy by walking a total of 2,108 miles. This is the equivalent of walking across Tennessee and back twice! Total miles walked from all teams was nearly 9,000!
We hope to get more businesses involved this time as well.”
To participate in Walk Across Tennessee, first get a team of up to eight together. Biking and jogging teams are limited to four people. Choose a team captain and name your team. Team captains need to download up a captain’s packet, available at the DeKalb County Walk Across Tennessee website which is http://eteamz.active.com/WalkAcrossTennesseeDeKalbCounty/ in the handout section or at the DeKalb County Extension Office, 115 West Market St. Smithville, located right beside Fuston’s Antiques. Each team member will need to complete a registration form which is included in the team captain’s packet or at the Walk Across Tennessee website. Individual as well as team forms should be returned to the Extension office.
Awards and prizes will be given to the individual who walk the most miles as well as the team who walks the most miles.
“Competition kicks off on Saturday, March 28th, 9:00 A.M. at Greenbrook Park under pavilion one,” Martin said. “Come out and plan to have lots of fun.” For more information, call the Extension office at 597-4945 or visit the website. Walk Across Tennessee results will be posted at http://eteamz.active.com/WalkAcrossTennesseeDeKalbCounty/, at Greenbrook park, and on the DeKalb County Walk Across Tennessee website each week.
All of the programs of the University of Tennessee are open to all people regardless of race, color, sex, national origin, or disability.

Retired school teacher Sherry Bush addressed the Board of Education Tuesday night with a concern about the board’s practice of having “workshop” sessions and a complaint about the difficulty she experienced in having her request to speak at a regular board meeting being placed on the agenda.
Bush questioned why it was necessary for the board to have workshops to discuss business, and further, why the board does not record minutes of such meetings.
Board members defended the practice and apparently will continue having workshops, which like regular and special meetings, are open to the public, although at workshops no action can be taken.

Chairman Charles Robinson said while the board has no policy regarding workshops, they are held frequently to gather information. “There is no policy on workshops. Workshops is a tool used by school boards to take information and study it. I guess a proper word for a workshop would be a study session. We study the issues in order to make informed decisions at our regular monthly meetings.”
After attending a couple of recent workshops, Bush said she got the impression that the board, while not voting, was deliberating toward decisions. “I have had the opportunity to come to a workshop here, a couple of workshops, and it seems to me that from the appearance that I got, that although you don’t vote on issues, you discuss them thoroughly, you come to a conclusion.”
“You had a workshop to evaluate Mr. (Mark) Willoughby, (in January) who is a very important official in this county, one of the highest paid officials in this county, but we as a public don’t know how you evaluated him. We don’t know why you evaluated him the way you did. We don’t know your thinking. We need to understand your thinking. You are here to represent us, to do our business, to run our school system. I’m not up here saying that he (Willoughby) is doing a bad job. I’m not saying he’s not an excellent superintendent. I’m just saying that we have a right to know more about this than you’re giving us. I just feel like that you’re really not being fair to the public when you don’t open your meetings. I know you say they’re open, but even in the atmosphere in which you hold these (meetings). You hold these in a smaller room and people have really got to be wanting to get there to come.”
Chairman Robinson: “workshops are not governed by state law and we (board) don’t have a policy (regarding workshops) because there is no requirement that we have one.”
Bush: “I think there ought to be records of these (meetings). If you’re going to continue to have them, and apparently you are, I think there ought to be records kept. Official records kept.”
Seventh District member Johnny Lattimore said anyone is welcome to attend a school board workshop. ” If you want to come up and listen to us, you are more than welcome to, but I don’t know how you would record something that’s just thinking (thought process). Sometimes we throw things out here just as a thought but we don’t leave from there (workshops) saying come Thursday night during the board meeting, this is how we’re going to vote. We have never done that because if we did, that would be illegal.”
Sixth District member Bruce Parsley added that “we always publish when we’re having workshops. At every one I have been to, there’s always an empty chair in that other room (where workshops are held), or two, or three. If we fill up all the chairs we’ll be glad to move the workshops to a bigger room, but there is really no use if there are empty chairs over there. We would be glad for anyone to come out and listen and even throw out some of their suggestions.”
Bush replied that “the issue needs to be, that when you have a public meeting, you need to keep a record of it.”
Parsley responded that “business wise, there is a record of it because it’s done here at the board meetings.”
Bush also asked why it took so long for her request to be granted in addressing the school board on this issue. “Why in the world is it so difficult for a citizen of this county to come before the board and be put on the agenda?”
According to Board Policy, Chairman Robinson said “the board desires that all matters be settled at the lowest level of responsibility and will not hear complaints or concerns which have not advanced through the proper administrative procedures from the point of origin.”
Robinson added, “That’s what we want. We want you to start from the bottom and work your way up. I guess in your case (referring to Ms. Bush), the (bottom) would have been starting with Mr. Willoughby.”
Bush answered, “I did start with Mr. Willoughby, but you can’t talk to him if you can’t get to see him. I realize he’s very busy. But I’ve been working on this (trying to get on the agenda) since January. All I wanted was to come and ask a simple question. Why do you have workshops and If you’re going to have them why do you not keep official minutes?”
At the end of the discussion on this issue, Director Willoughby told Ms. Bush he is still willing to meet with her. “Ms Bush I appreciate your concern. I may not be able to meet with you exactly when you would like, but I would always be willing to meet with you. In the times you have come before me, I have based my opinion upon the Tennessee School Boards Association’s rules and I have talked to their lawyers. That’s where my conclusions to any decisions upon this subject has come from. But I do respect your (Bush’s) opinion although I do disagree with some of it.”
Randall Bennett of the Tennessee School Boards Association sent a memorandum to Director Willoughby concerning the legal requirements for meetings.
The memorandum states “You have asked me a question regarding the legal requirements for recording minutes of meetings and work sessions. The relevant law may be found in Tennessee Code Annotated which reads as follows: 8-44-104 (a) “The minutes of a meeting of any such governmental body shall be promptly and fully recorded, shall be open to public inspection, and shall include, but not be limited to, a record of persons present, all motions, proposals and resolutions offered, the results of any votes taken, and a record of individual votes in the event of a roll call…”
Bennett writes “As you can see in section (a), an elected body MUST include in its minutes the following information:
A record of who is present at the meeting
Motions, proposals, and resolutions offered
Results of any votes taken
A record of individual votes if a roll call vote is taken”
“The law doesn’t specifically address work sessions but in my opinion may be interpreted to support the position that there are no specific requirements for minutes to be recorded for work sessions. Even taking the opposite position that the law can be interpreted to support the contention that minutes must be recorded for work sessions, it would only require keeping a record of board members present. Since motions, proposals and resolutions are not generally offered at a work session, there would be no legal requirement to record anything else.”
“The law anticipates that elected bodies may include more information in minutes than is required, however, and boards across the state vary considerably in their methods of recording minutes. Some do choose to record minutes for work sessions, but the decision to do so is a local board decision and not mandated by state law.”
The school board policy on “Appeals to the Board” states that “Any matter relating to the operation of the school system may be appealed to the board. However, the board desires that all matters be settled at the lowest level of responsibility and will not hear complaints or concerns which have not advanced through the proper administrative procedure from the point of origin.”
“If all administrative channels have been pursued and there is still a desire to appeal to the board, the matter shall be referred in writing and the board shall determine whether to hear the appeal.”
The school board policy on “Appearing before the Board” states that “Individuals desiring to appear before the board may request placement on the agenda by contacting the office of the director of schools one week before the meeting. They will be recognized at the beginning of the meeting and given time to speak when their topic of interest is addressed on the agenda. Sufficient background material will be provided by the speaker. The chairman may recognize individuals not on the agenda for remarks to the board if he/she determines that such is in the public interest. A majority vote of members present can overrule the decision of the chairman.”
“Delegations must select only one individual to speak on their behalf unless otherwise determined by the board.”
“Recognition of individuals who are not citizens of the school system is to be determined by a majority vote of the board.”
“Individuals speaking to the board shall address remarks to the chairman and may direct questions to individual board members or staff members only upon approval of the chairman. Each person speaking shall state his name, address, and subject of presentation. Remarks will be limited to five minutes unless time is extended by a majority vote of the board. The chairman shall have the authority to terminate the remarks of any individual who does not adhere to the above rules or choses to be abusive to an individual board member or the board as a whole. Members of the board and the director of schools may have the privilege of asking questions of any person who addresses the board.”
“Individuals desiring additional information about any item on the agenda shall direct such inquiries to the office of the director of schools.”
Meanwhile, in other business, the Board of Education Tuesday night approved the advancement of several teachers from apprentice to professional licensure status.
Director Willoughby says each of the following teachers has met the six domains within the framework for evaluation and professional growth model as prescribed by the State Department of Education.” These people have been on an apprentice license. They have to be on an apprentice license for three years before they can get a professional license. They have to complete three years of successful evaluations. At the end of those three years, with successful evaluations, then they can get a professional license. These people have met these requirements. Some of these people have been with us for three years. Some people have only been with us for one year, but they do meet the requirements of the state as far as going from an apprentice license to a professional license.”
Principals completing the comprehensive assessment-summative report have recommended each teacher for a professional licensure. Director Willoughby also recommended board approval.
These teachers include:
Jonathan Robert Wright, Instructional Music K-12 at DeKalb County High School
Shelly D. Painter, Pre-K to 12 Guidance Counselor
Mike C. Littrell, Visual Art K-12 at DeKalb Middle/DeKalb West School
Amy Young, Pre-School- 3 at DeKalb West School
Renee West Beaty and Misty Franklin, K-6 at Smithville Elementary
Shelly Jennings, Sabrina Kirksey, and Amy Raymond, K-6 at Northside Elementary
Director Willoughby also presented a report on personnel moves made since last month.
The following were employed for the 2008-09 school year:
Tina Fletcher, substitute bus driver
Billie Joyce Webster, substitute custodian
Pam Turner, substitute nurse
Sandra Billings, substitute bus assistant
Substitute teachers added to the list since last month include Tracie Baker, Jennifer Cole, Brenda Colwell, Julie Cook, Diane Evans, Tisha Ford, Sherrie Giles, Janna Gillard, Brian Gregory, Charlene Hallum, Amanda Lawson, Stacey Mason, Ronda Northcutt, Donna Robinson, Becky Thompson, Faye Tyree, Rebecca Waggoner, Tiffanie Van Winkle, and Brandi Womack.
Kevin Rigsby, teacher at DeKalb Middle School, has resigned
Jennifer Kickliter, deaf interpreter, has resigned
April Odom, attendance clerk, has been granted a leave of absence as requested.
The board approved an overnight trip for members of the FBLA Club at DCHS to attend the State Leadership Conference April 1st-4th in Chattanooga.
The board also granted approval for the Tigerette Softball Team to participate in the Middle Tennessee Softball Coaches Association Tournament in Clarksville on Friday, March 20th.
Jeremy R. Judkins, President of the DeKalb Youth Soccer League, appeared before the board to request permission for the use of a field at Northside Elementary School this year. The board authorized the Director and Board Chairman to take executive action to approve the request once a lease agreement has been finalized and proof of liability insurance is established.
Board Chairman Charles Robinson updated the board on the procedure for granting tenure to teachers and set a workshop for April 9th at 6:00 p.m. to “review the evaluations and recommendations of the director and his staff on those employees that are to be tenured by the DeKalb County Board of Education at our regular monthly meeting April 9th at 7:00 p.m.”
“The board of education will grant tenure only to those teachers who can present documentation of a record of excellence as a teacher and who are determined by state guidelines to be considered a highly qualified teacher or those making appropriate progress toward achieving that status. The director of schools will recommend persons eligible for tenure at a board meeting and the director of schools will provide ample notice of non-renewal to each teacher not granted tenure prior to April 15th of the year of eligibility.”