Board of Education Begins Budget Discussions

May 12, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

The DeKalb County Board of Education is making preparations for the 2020-21 budget which includes pay raises for personnel.

During a work session last Thursday night, Director of Schools Patrick Cripps and members of the Board announced plans to include in the budget a $2,000 pay raise (including the 2% state increase) per certified employee and a $1,000 increase (locally funded) for each non-certified support staff employee. The proposal is not yet official because the board has not formally adopted a new budget.

“We want to try to improve teacher pay because we (DeKalb County) still lag behind the state average in teacher salaries,” said Cripps.

The proposed spending plan for 2020-21 is basically the same as this year’s budget with few exceptions.

“We are looking at the same amount of money we had last year not counting step increases. Basically what we are asking for is the raises, increases in employee health care insurance, and funding to buy land for construction of a new school, “ said Director Cripps.

The school budget will have to account for a possible 7-8% increase in employee health insurance costs. “I think we budgeted to do 3-1/2% but we are going to have to put more into the insurance line with the economy like it is and people losing their jobs. We have had some employees already come in and pick up insurance with us because their spouse had lost their job. We’ll have to make sure we can offer insurance to those individuals because if more of them come to us we will have to offer it to them,” said Cripps.

Funds will also be included in the school budget for the purchase of 24.5 acres of property on North Congress Boulevard near Northside Elementary School for construction of a new pre-K to 2nd grade elementary school. The price is $18,000 per acre. The purchase is subject to favorable core drilling and a TDOT traffic study.

No new teaching positions will be created in 2020-21 and to help prevent a reduction in staff due to possible decreases in state BEP funding a few teachers already in the system may be reassigned to fill openings from retirements or to meet other needs.

“We are not asking for any new money for teaching positions but we are looking at adding a teacher in special education. It’s not a new position. Its one we already have but that person will be working with students and teachers in classrooms at every school,” said Cripps

“I would like to add two in-school suspension aides to share around the schools for another way to discipline students without suspending them or sending them off to the alternative school. We want to keep them in school and not lose them or their academics,” he said.

“Mrs. (Susan) Hinton is retiring (as adult high school coordinator). What I would like to do is move her position to the alternative school so we can add more students there. It also puts another teacher in the building. We would not be losing a teacher nor saving money. We would just be relocating that teacher and while we would keep the adult high school program it would be done online. That’s what a lot of districts are doing now. They are going to an online platform. We already have an online platform that we have been doing with our other students called Ingenuity and students can further their education through that,” Director Cripps continued.

“Mrs. Libby McCormick (Librarian) is also retiring at Northside. Their numbers have fallen at Northside and the Middle School numbers are high. That 6th, 7th, & 8th grade group is huge so we are going to move that teaching position to the middle school to save money. That’s how we are going to look at moving teachers around. We will make sure everybody(school) has enough teachers but we have to be diligent with how we work our personnel with the money being sent to us,” added Director Cripps.

Technology funding will be used to help cover increased costs of textbooks needed to meet the state curriculum.

“Books are going to be out the roof. We were looking at $400,000 to $500,000 for books this year. Digital is not saving us anything either because they are charging a yearly subscription for those. When it first came out you could buy digital cheaper. We were supposed to adopt new math textbooks for next year but the costs have gone up so much the state has postponed that in order for the district to have two years to pay them off. Those books are over $200 each. We are not seeking any additional funds for books. We have moved some money around from technology to books because the money coming from the Federal CARES ACT will be directed toward technology to buy computers, Wi-Fi, etc. so that if we do need to again teach remotely from home each student could have access to those things and WI-FI hot spots,” said Cripps.

Plans are to purchase at least one new school bus.

“We bought two buses last year and we will probably reduce it to one bus this year. It depends on how the money flows,” added Cripps.

The state will also be continuing funding for ACT testing next school year.

“With ACT the state sends us money to test our students but where they (students) didn’t get to take the ACT this year the state is now requiring that we double down and test seniors and juniors so that money sent this year for ACT which wasn’t used will have to be spent and next year they will send more money for ACT testing as well,” said Cripps.

Cripps said the proposed school budget for 2020-21 can be funded with available monies thanks to good management practices of recent years.

“We have done really well with our budgets the last few years keeping about a million dollars to the good,” he said.

May 11, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

It was intended to be a parade in celebration of Mother’s Day for the residents of NHC Healthcare Center in Smithville, but rain forced a postponement of the event last Friday until Monday (today).

Due to COVID-19 visitors have been restricted from entry at all NHC centers for several weeks in order to help prevent the introduction of the virus through asymptomatic individuals. There have been no cases of the virus at the Smithville Center.

The parade Monday gave family and friends an opportunity to see their loved ones and exchange waves from a safe distance. Many of the residents were brought outside the center during the parade to see the motorcade of decorated cars and trucks all filled with smiling faces  and signs bearing special greetings.

May 11, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

A convicted felon has been arrested on several burglary, theft, illegal weapon possession, and drug charges.

36 year old Ryan Lee Walden of Dale Ridge Road is charged with burglary, three counts of aggravated burglary, two counts of theft, possession of burglary tools, possession of methamphetamine, and felony possession of a weapon. His bond totals $70,000 and he will make a court appearance August 8.

Sheriff Patrick Ray said Walden is charged with breaking into a residence on Old Highway 53, Liberty on April 28. A week later on May 5, Walden returned to the residence and broke in twice. On at least one occasion he used a crowbar to gain entry to the home. While there Walden also broke into a 2012 Chevy Cruze on the property.

During the burglaries, Walden stole a Skil Warrior Plus Drill, Hyper Tough Tire Inflator, 600 Battery Pack Power Station, Taurus Judge 45 caliber handgun, 50 inch Vizio TV, 3 crossbows, portable generator, several fishing poles, and documents with a total value of $3,100.

On May 7 Chief Deputy Robert Patrick spotted Walden in a red Dodge Ram and pulled him over on Oak Street in Smithville knowing there were outstanding warrants against Walden.

After receiving consent to search, Officer Patrick found in the passenger seat of the vehicle a stolen Taurus Judge 45 caliber handgun, which was loaded. Under the driver’s seat was a loaded 9 millimeter handgun. Walden was also found with 1.4 grams of a white crystal substance believed to be methamphetamine along with a loaded syringe and 10 unused syringes. Walden is a convicted felon for a 2013 aggravated burglary and a 2005 schedule III drug offense.

The case was investigated by sheriff’s department detectives.