The DeKalb County School Board voted last week to give Director of Schools Patrick Cripps a three-year contract extension, effective July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2028. The board said the extension was based on overall high marks in a recent performance evaluation.
The decision came during the School Board’s regular monthly meeting last Thursday, where the Board voted four to two to grant the extension. Members voting in favor were Board Chairman Shaun Tubbs, Danny Parkerson, Alan Hayes and Megan Moore. Voting against were Jim Beshearse and Jason Miller. Eric Ervin was absent.
Chairman Tubbs said that the evaluation of Director Cripps was conducted in March, but the vote on a contract extension was held until after the election to give the new board member, Megan Moore, an opportunity to vote.
“When we first vetted Mr. Cripps nine years ago, there were several characteristics that the board was looking for in a director, and I think we were fortunate enough to find local talent here in our own backdoor,” said Chairman Tubbs.
“We wanted someone who was vested in the community and someone who had our students and our faculty at heart. Throughout his tenure of being our director we have watched him grow as well as us as a board grow. I can recall that whenever Mr. Cripps took the director’s position. I met with him for several hours to go over again what his vision was for our school system and things he was looking to implement.”
“One thing I did say to him was that he had held the position as the principal at our high school and that I was sure that he knew of waste that was going on in our high school, and if it was going on there, it was probably going on at our other schools as well. I told him that, while I would be one of the biggest advocates for schools, if we were spending money not so wisely, I wanted it to stop,” said Tubbs.
“I think if you look at the current situation with the school system it shows that we have been very good stewards of the county’s money. Under Mr. Cripps’ leadership we have undergone many large projects. We replaced the gym floor at the high school. We replaced the backstop at the high school baseball field. We replaced the lights and the bleachers at the high school and the football field as well as the soccer field. We have upgraded the restrooms in all of our schools. One thing that is very noticeable is that we now have air conditioning in our gyms and I think that is something we can all be proud of.”
“Mr. Cripps has put a major emphasis on school safety and has implemented a key fob system at our high school. We now have vestibules at each of our schools for increased safety measures. We also have SROs in each of our schools and two SROs at our high school,” said Tubbs.
“Another thing I want to point out is that TISA (Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement) for the director’s position sends $139,000 for that salary. Mr. Cripps is currently being paid $109,000 and his pay increases are tied with the rest of the staff’s salary increases. That means if the staff gets a pay increase, then he gets one. If the staff doesn’t get a pay increase, he doesn’t either. We can choose to do nothing and let his contract expire on June 30 2025, or extend the contract by one year up to four years,” said Chairman Tubbs.
Results of the Board of Education’s annual performance evaluation of Director Cripps show he is meeting “most” expectations of the board.
Cripps will earn a salary of $109,000 per year, but he is entitled to the same salary raises that the Board shall grant to all licensed employees going forward under the contract. Cripps has been Director since July 2015.
