The DeKalb County School Board met last Thursday evening, marking the last time one member would be in attendance as a board member. Fourth District Board Member Kate Miller was recognized for her time on the board and her service to the community.

Miller had served on the Board of Education since 2014, and decided not to seek re-election this term. Eric Ervin was elected to the seat during the County General Election, with his four-year term beginning on September 1.

DeKalb Director of Schools Patrick Cripps thanked Miller for her time on the board, saying, “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.”

“I want to thank you for the kind words,” Miller responded. “It’s been a pleasure working with Mr. Cripps and the board. It’s 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.”

Board Chairman Shaun Tubbs also had kind words for Miller, saying, “It’s been a joy to serve on the board with you Kate. 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,” Tubbs said. “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,” Tubbs continued. “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.”

Afterwards, Director Cripps gave the board student enrollment numbers, which are up in the elementary grade levels, but down system wide from last year.

“We are a little above 3,000 as students continue to flow in and flow out,” Cripps explained. “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.”

Cripps said the school system is working to fill remaining open positions within the district, one of which is badly needed bus drivers. “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.”

“We did have a good start to the first week” Cripps continued. “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.”

Later, the board approved a new tennis program at DeKalb Middle School.

The monthly personnel report was also presented to the Board.

Those newly employed are 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, and Charlotte Bertsch, Cafeteria.

A leave of absence was requested by Ally Atnip.

Those transferred are Tara Driver transferred from Educational Assistant to Teacher at Northside Elementary School, and Jennifer Salas, transferred from Educational Assistant to Teacher at Northside Elementary School.

Resignations and retirement announcements are Jodi Lester, Secretary at DeKalb Middle School, and Isla Ledbetter, Bus Driver and Educational Assistant at DeKalb Middle School.