2013 Benchmarks The Greeneville Sun March 23, 2013 The Greeneville Sun March 23, 2013 Section Section D D Health Health & & Education Education Takoma A ‘Top Rural Hospital.’ 3 Takoma A ‘Top Rural Hospital.’ 3 Stroud Stroud Heads City Schools. 10 Heads City Schools. 10 Laughlin Sees Growth. 2 Laughlin Sees Growth. 2 School Safety Issues. 18 School Safety Issues. 18 Weems Weems Wing Dedicated At WGHS. 13 Wing Dedicated At WGHS. 13 Tusculum College Expansion. 7 Tusculum College Expansion. 7 Walters Walters State Expansion. 9 State Expansion. 9
Transcript
2013 BenchmarksThe Greeneville Sun March 23, 2013The Greeneville Sun March 23, 2013
Section Section DD
HealthHealth & & EducationEducation
Takoma A ‘Top Rural Hospital.’ 3Takoma A ‘Top Rural Hospital.’ 3StroudStroud Heads City Schools. 10 Heads City Schools. 10Laughlin Sees Growth. 2Laughlin Sees Growth. 2School Safety Issues. 18School Safety Issues. 18WeemsWeems Wing Dedicated At WGHS. 13 Wing Dedicated At WGHS. 13Tusculum College Expansion. 7Tusculum College Expansion. 7WaltersWalters State Expansion. 9 State Expansion. 9
2 THE GREENEVILLE SUN BENCHMARKS EDITION Saturday, March 23, 2013 www.greenevillesun.com
On The Cover
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BY LISA WARRENSTAFF WRITER
It has been a year of continued growth in ser-vices for Laughlin Memo-rial Hospital.
Among those was the expansion of the hospi-tal’s heart care program.
In partnership with the Wellmont CVA Heart Institute, Laughlin Hos-pital has added three full-time cardiologists at its campus.
This has enabled the hospital to expand ser-vices within its cardiac catheterization laborato-ry and other non-invasive cardiac procedures, which previously required the transfer of local patients to an out-of-town heart-care facility.
WOUND CARE, HYPERBARIC CENTER
In January, Laughlin Hospital also expanded its services to include a new wound care and hyperbaric medicine cen-ter.
Located in the Laugh-lin Medical Office Build-ing No. 2, the Laughlin Center for Wound Care is an out-patient, hospi-tal-based program that works in conjunction with the patient’s primary care physician, serving as an adjunctive service for the referring physi-cian and specializing in the treatment of problem wounds.
Greeneville surgeon Dr. Stephen Flohr is the pro-gram’s medical director, while also continuing his general surgery practice.
In addition to Flohr, Drs. Mark Patterson, Natalie Scott, Kevin Strohmeyer and Jim Rodgers coordinate an overall care plan for each patient, working in part-nership with the patient’s referring physician.
“Our program is com-pletely devoted to heal-ing problem wounds, and helping our patients to reclaim their quality of life,” said the program’s
director, Ron Gobble.
CANCER STUDYIn June, Laughlin host-
ed a news conference to announce the start of a landmark cancer pre-vention study being con-ducted by the American Cancer Society.
The hospital served as one of four enrollment center sites in Greeneville for those who wanted to participate in the study to enroll.
The other sites were Asbury United Methodist Church; DTR Tennessee, Inc., and MECO/Unaka Corporation.
Greene County was one of just five areas in Tennessee where partic-ipants in the program, known as Cancer Preven-tion Study-3 (CPS-3), are being sought.
The other areas in the state are: Memphis, Chat-tanooga, Nashville and the Upper Cumberland area of Putnam, Cumberland and Warren counties.
Elise Allen, of the area ACS chapter, said that the four Greene County enroll-ment sites signed up 250 participants for the study.
This is a remarkable feat considering that the entire city of Nashville only signed up 500 participants, Allen said.
Nationwide, researchers hope to recruit at least 300,000 participants.
CANCER PROGRAM REACCREDITATION
Laughlin Hospital’s cancer-care program received word that it has
been given a three-year reaccreditation with com-mendation by the Ameri-can College of Surgeons’ Commission on Cancer (CoC).
The hospital was grant-ed its first CoC accredita-tion in 2009.
The purpose of the accreditation program, hospital officials say, is “to improve survival rates and the quality of life of cancer patients by setting quality-of-care standards.
Applying for and main-taining accreditation is given only to those facili-ties that voluntarily make this commitment of excel-lence to cancer patients by complying with 36 quality-of-care standards.
During the CoC sur-vey process, which occurs every three years, a facility undergoes a rigorous eval-uation and review of its performance and its com-pliance with these quality-of-care standards.
Currently, there are more than 1,500 CoC-accredited cancer pro-grams in the U.S. and
Puerto Rico, a number which represents about 30 percent of all hospi-tals.
Dr. John Boys, medi-cal director of the Radia-tion Oncology Center at Laughlin Memorial Hos-pital, said that achiev-ing accreditation for the hospital’s overall cancer care program involved a very great amount of work not only from his department, but virtually the entire hospital.
Having a successful survey by the CoC means that the “commission affirms that our services are of the highest qual-ity and surpass the stan-dard of care nationwide,” Boys said.
“This is a team approach,” Boys added. “People need to know that cancer care has a full-team approach here.”
‘FIT-FRIENDLY WORKSITE’In November, Laugh-
lin Hospital was recog-nized as a “Fit-Friendly Worksite” by the Ameri-can Heart Association (AHA).
In a letter to hospi-tal officials, AHA CEO Nancy Brown extended congratulations to the hospital on the recogni-tion.
“You are among an elite group of awardees for this important initia-tive,” Brown said in her letter.
“As a Gold-level award recipient, you have not only recognized the impor-tance of a healthy work-place for your employees, but have taken important steps to create a culture of wellness by providing support to employees, and we commend you and your employees,” she added.
With the Fit-Friend-ly Worksite designa-tion, Laughlin Hospital received recognition on the AHA’s website and at area AHA events, and earned the right to use the AHA’s Gold seal on all hospital communica-tions.
The award and seal usage rights are valid until Oct. 1, 2013.
Lauren Ladd, regional director for the Ameri-can Heart Association, presented a recognition plaque to Laughlin Hos-pital in honor of the spe-cial designation.
WHITFIELD HONOREDIn November, Chuck
Whitfield, president and CEO of Laughlin Memo-rial Hospital, was the recipient of the highest leadership award pre-sented annually by the Tennessee Hospital Asso-ciation.
Whitfield was present-ed with the THA’s 2012 Distinguished Service Award during the orga-nization’s 74th annual meeting, held Nov. 2 at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center in Nashville.
The award recognizes leadership and service by an individual member of the state hospital asso-ciation throughout his or her career.
Laughlin Memorial Hospital Sees Continued Growth In Services
SUN PHOTO BY BRIAN CUTSHALLChuck Whitfield, president and CEO of Laughlin Memorial Hospital, speaks at news conference in June to announce the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Prevention Study-3 initiative. Laughlin Hospital is serving as one of four local enrollment sites. The other three are DTR, MECO/Unaka Corporation, and Asbury United Methodist Church.
CHUCK WHITFIELDPRESIDENT AND CEO
FROM THE TOP, AND LEFT TO RIGHT:
TAKOMA NAMED A ‘TOP RURAL HOSPITAL’: ONE OF JUST 13 IN U.S.Takoma Regional Hospital was recognized nationally in December for its strong
commitment to patient safety. The hospital was one of only 13 in the nation to be named a “Top Rural Hospital” by The Leapfrog Group, a national organization whose focus is helping consumers compare hospitals based on outcomes and patient safety. The “Top Hospital” designation is described by the organization as “the most competitive national hospital-quality award in the country.” Sun photo by O.J. Early.
DR. LINDA STROUD ASSUMES LEADERSHIP OF CITY SCHOOLSGreeneville Director of Schools Dr. Linda Stroud stands in her new office in June
2012 with the rocking chair and prayer shawl that she received as gifts when she moved from her position as Greeneville High School principal to the director of schools post. Sun photo by O.J. Early.
LAUGHLIN MEMORIAL HOSPITAL SEES CONTINUED GROWTH IN SERVICESLaughlin Memorial Hospital held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Feb. 1 to mark the opening of its new Laughlin Center for Wound Care. Shown, from left, are: Larry Coughlin, Laughlin Health Care Foundation Board of Trustees; Bill McNabb, WIN representative; Tom Gregory, Laughlin Foundation Board of Trustees; Dr. Kevin Strohmayer; Dr. Stephen Flohr, Laughlin Center for Wound Care’s medical direc-tor; Artie Wehenkel, Greene County Partnership (GCP) Green Coat Committee; Joy Rader Nunnally, GCP Green Coat Committee; Ron Gobble, director of the Laughlin Center for Wound Care; Mark Stokes and Ken Earl, of the GCP Green Coat Com-mittee; Dr. Jim Rogers; Willard Blevins, LMH Board of Directors; James Smith, GCP Green Coat Committee; Janet Cody, safety director of the Laughlin Center for Wound Care; Herbert Whitfield, Ray Adams and Jack Wilson, all members of the LMH Board of Directors and Laughlin Health Care Foundation Board of Trustees; and Dominick Jackson, LMH Board of Directors. Sun photo by O.J. Early.
NEWTOWN SHOOTINGS, LOCAL BUS INCIDENTS RAISE SAFETY ISSUEA police officers was assigned to each Greeneville school in January in the inter-est of safety, after students returned from Christmas vacation. Previously, one officer was assigned to Greeneville High School throughout the school day, while a second officer rotated patrol among the other five schools during the day. Begin-
ning Jan. 7, an officer was posted at each of the six city schools throughout the school day in an effort. In the cover photo, Hal Henard Elementary School students are introduced to Officer Cameron Spradlin, at left. Pre-K teacher Heather Jones, standing at center, assisted incoming students. Sun photo by O.J. Early.
CLAUDE “JUNIOR” WEEMS JR. WING DEDICATED AT WGHSThe late Greene County Board of Education member Claude Weems Jr., fourth from right, cuts the ribbon in June 2012 for additions and improvements at West Greene High School. Shown, from left to right, are: student Richard Vradenburgh; County Commissioners Brenda Grogan (partially visible; now deceased) and Hilton Seay; County Director of Schools Dr. Vicki Kirk; school board members Kathy Austin and Nathan Brown; County Commissioner David Crum; school board member Kathy Crawford; County Commissioner Nathan Holt; WGHS Principal Julia Lamons; school board Chairman Roger Jones; County Commissioner Wade McAmis (partially visible); Weems; school board members Rex Hopson and David Johnson; and student board member Seth Smith. Weems died only a few days later at 79 from injuries sustained in a farming accident. Sun photo by O.J. Early.
TUSCULUM COLLEGE ENTERS PERIOD OF CONSTRUCTION, EXPANSIONA groundbreaking ceremony for two new residence halls at Tusculum College in February 2013 involved, from left to right: Dr. Nancy B. Moody, president of Tus-culum College; Joe Woody, area director of USDA Rural Development; the Rev. Dr. Dan Donaldson, pastor of First Presbyterian Church and member of the Tusculum College Board of Trustees; student Chris Weems, of Dickson; student Cierra Ock-stadt, of Portland; City of Tusculum Mayor John Foster; U.S. Rep. Phil Roe, R-1st, of Johnson City; and Dr. Kenneth A. Bowman, chair of the Tusculum College Board of Trustees. Sun photo by Kristen Buckles.
CONSTRUCTION TO BEGIN SOON ON WSCC CAMPUS EXPANSIONThe Greeneville/Greene County Campus of Walters State Community College completed the pre-planning phase for major expansion of its local campus, with construction work on the first phase of the plan scheduled to start around the beginning of April. The $20 million expansion of the campus calls for the corners where Tusculum Boulevard meets College Street and Main Street to undergo a dramatic transformation. A $9 million appropriation related to the project from the Tennessee Board of Regents is the largest single state-supported capital out-lay in the college’s 41-year history. Sun photo by O.J. Early.
Takoma Regional Hospital ..........................................................3Benchmark Physical Therapy ......................................................4Pharmacy Guide ........................................................................4Life Care Center of Greeneville ...................................................5Assisted Living Guide .................................................................6Fitness Guide .............................................................................6Takoma Regional Hospital ..........................................................7Dental Guide .............................................................................8Nursing Home Guide ..................................................................9Mountain States Health Alliance ..............................................11Health & Wellness Guide ....................................................12-13
Corley’s Pharmacy ....................................................................14Holston United Methodist Home for Children ...........................14State of Franklin Healthcare Associates ...................................15Child Education & Development Guide ....................................16Frontier Health .........................................................................16The Job Network ...................................................................... 17Greeneville City Schools ...........................................................18High Road Digital .....................................................................18Durham-Hensley Health and Rehabilitation ..............................19Laughlin Memorial Hospital ......................................................20
Saturday, March 23, 2013 THE GREENEVILLE SUN BENCHMARKS EDITION 3www.greenevillesun.com
BY LISA WARRENSTAFF WRITER
Takoma Regional Hospital was recognized nationally dur-ing the past year for its strong commitment to patient safety.
In December, the hospital was one of only 13 in the nation to be named a “Top Rural Hos-pital” by The Leapfrog Group, a national organization whose focus is helping consumers compare hospitals based on outcomes and patient safety.
The Leapfrog Group, which is an independent, quality-review organization based in Wash-ington, D.C., announced its annual list of “Top Hospitals” on Dec. 4, 2012, at a special meeting in Baltimore.
The “Top Hospital” designa-tion is described by the orga-nization as “the most competi-tive national hospital-quality award in the country.”
According to Leapfrog, the honor recognizes hospitals “that deliver the highest qual-ity of care by preventing medi-cal errors, reducing mortality for high-risk procedures, and reducing hospital readmissions for patients being treated for conditions [such as] pneumo-nia and heart attack.”
Only 92 hospitals in the United States received recog-nition as a Top Hospital in any of the three categories: Top Rural Hospital (13), Top Urban Hospital (67), and Top Children’s Hospital (12).
Only two hospitals in Tennes-see were honored with the Top Hospital designation in any of the categories — Takoma, in the Rural Hospital category, and Vanderbilt University Hos-pital, in the Urban Hospital category.
‘IN GOOD COMPANY’“This is a huge honor for
us,” said Takoma President and CEO Daniel Wolcott, upon receiving news of the honor. “Takoma once again finds itself in good company.”
Wolcott thanked Adventist Health System for what he said are its ongoing investments in technology and evidence-based care.
“Their continued commit-ment to invest in state-of-the-art technology, beginning more than 10 years ago and continu-ing today, has enabled us to meet criteria that led to this top national honor,” he said.
As an early adopter of evi-dence-based care, Takoma participated in a collaborative with Johns Hopkins Univer-sity Hospital and the Adventist Health System in 2006, the Takoma news release stated.
“This collaborative focused on reducing infections relat-ed to central lines,” Wolcott explained.
“Because of this collabora-tive, Takoma has maintained very low infections related to central lines, which is one area measured by Leapfrog.”
To be named a Top Hospi-tal, facilities are required to meet demanding quality and resource-use standards set up by The Leapfrog Group.
In addition, to qualify for the honor, hospitals also have to earn an “A” in Leapfrog’s newest initiative: the Hospi-tal Safety Score, which looks closely at how safe hospitals are for patients.
‘A’ IN PATIENT SAFETYAlso in December, Leapfrog
announced that Takoma was among 25 other Tennessee hos-pitals to receive an “A” in the patient safety category.
This was the second consec-utive year that Takoma had
received that designation.Scores — ranging from “A”
to “F” — were assigned to the 1,200 participating hospitals based on expert analysis of infections, injuries, and medi-cal and medication errors that frequently cause harm or death during a hospital stay.
“Leapfrog holds hospitals to a fixed set of defined and transparent standards that are extremely high, and only the hospitals that meet those standards earn the distinc-tion,” said Leah Binder, presi-dent and CEO of The Leapfrog Group.
“By achieving the Top Hos-pital accolade, Takoma has demonstrated exemplary per-formance across all areas of quality and patient safety that are analyzed on the Leapfrog Hospital Survey.
“Takoma stands out as one consistently providing safe, high-quality care, and I would be comfortable sending my family to Takoma for care,” Binder said.
Takoma is a member of both the Adventist Health System and the Wellmont Health Sys-tem.
Although no other Wellmont hospital was named to the Top
Hospital list, Bristol Regional Medical Center, a part of the Wellmont system, received an “A” in Leapfrog’s Hospital Safe-ty Score.
BREAST MRIAlso during the past year,
Takoma Hospital began serv-ing its patients with a new 16-channel Tesla MRI scan-ner, which, according to Dr. Raymond Kohne, Takoma’s medical director of radiology, is allowing the hospital “to take its fight on breast cancer to a whole new level.”
“Recent studies have shown that breast MRI is a key tool in detecting tumors,” said Vickie Henegar, director of Takoma Hospital’s Imaging Depart-ment.
MRI uses magnetic fields rather than radiation to create an image of the breast. “The strength of breast MRIs is the exquisite soft tissue contrast, which helps us better search for malignancies,” Henegar added.
The new MRI technology in place at Takoma cuts the scan times in half for patients, Hen-egar said.
“That is a big plus,” she said, especially for patients who are
uncomfortable being inside an MRI machine.
NEW PROGRAMSIn August, Takoma unveiled
a new program for breast can-cer patients called “Day By Day Feel Better.”
The program provides one-on-one counseling, prosthet-ics, wigs, scarves and other services to patients in active treatment.
A new wellness initiative launched by Takoma Hospital during the past year is CRE-ATION Health.
The program is based on eight health principles: choice, rest, environment, activity, trust, interpersonal relation-ships, outlook and nutrition.
As part of the intitiative, the hospital is making available to its patients copies of the book, “CREATION Health Discov-ery: Your Path To A Healthy 100.”
WIRELESS VITAL SIGNSEarlier this year, Takoma
Hospital received 25 new wire-less, vital-sign devices that hos-pital officials say will improve the accuracy and timeliness of important health information record-keeping for patients.
The Phillips Wireless vital sign devices utilize bar-code scanning that automatical-ly uploads data directly into patients’ electronic medical records.
Valued at more than $100,000, the devices were purchased for Takoma by Adventist Health System, which owns the hos-pital in partnership with Well-mont Health System.
Tammy Albright, the hospi-tal’s chief nursing officer, said that the devices eliminate the process of manual data entry of the vital signs into the elec-tronic medical record, which nursing staff currently enters throughout a patient’s stay.
MCKINNEY HONOREDIn October, long-time Tako-
ma Medical Associates family physician Dr. James Ray McK-inney was honored by the Ten-nessee Hospital Association.
McKinney was presented with the prestigious “Merito-rious Service Award” by the state organization to honor his 52 years of service to patients in the region.
Takoma Named A ‘Top Rural Hospital’: One Of Just 13 In U.S.
ILLUSTRATION COURTESY OF TAKOMA REGIONAL HOSPITAL Takoma Regional Hospital installed a 16-channel Tesla MRI scanner in March 2012. With the new technology, “We are taking our fight on breast cancer to a whole new level,” said Dr. Raymond Kohne, Takoma Hospital’s medical director of radiology.
4 THE GREENEVILLE SUN BENCHMARKS EDITION Saturday, March 23, 2013 www.greenevillesun.com
BY LISA WARRENSTAFF WRITER
A change of leadership will take place in the coming year at Holston United Methodist Home for Children.
In December, Arthur S. (Art) Masker, who has guided Holston Home as its president and CEO for the past 14 years, announced that he will retire next fall.
Masker said that his resignation will take effect on Sept. 1, 2013.
Bradley S. Williams, who has worked at Holston Home for the past 10 years, most recently as its chief operating offi-cer, has been named as Masker’s successor.
MASKER’S BACKGROUNDMasker became presi-
dent and CEO of Holston Home in December 1999.
He joined Holston Home in 1973 as a case man-ager for the Wiley Center residential home.
Since that time, Masker has served as director of several of Holston Home’s program divisions.
In 1983, he was pro-moted to program admin-istrator and, in 1997, he was promoted again to vice president for pro-gram services before being named the Holston Home president and CEO in 1999.
Under his leadership, the size and scope of Holston Home’s services have more than doubled.
In addition to his role at Holston Home, Masker is also an active, long-time volunteer leader with the Boy Scouts of America and serves in many leadership roles at Asbury United Methodist Church in Greeneville.
“I have known Art for 40 years,” said the Rev. Charles A. Hutchins, Holston Home vice presi-dent for development/church relations.
“From the day I met him, it was obvious that he was committed to cre-ating the best possible program for the children and youth.
“He has moved Holston Home to the highest level, and bringing Brad Williams onto the staff several years ago assures the continued success of this organization,” Hutchins added.
WILLIAMS’ BACKGROUNDWilliams joined the
Holston Home executive team in 2002.
In his current role, he is responsible for admin-istering the agency’s program services, which serve more than 400 chil-dren each day.
Prior to joining the Holston Home team, Wil-liams served as the dep-uty director of the Cum-berland County Depart-ment of Social Services in North Carolina.
He also held leadership roles with Camelot Care Centers in Tennessee and Baptist Children’s Homes of North Carolina.
In his early career, Wil-
liams provided direct ser-vices as a social worker and therapist in Tennes-see and North Carolina.
He earned his master’s degree in social work from the University of Tennessee, where he also earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology.
“Art has done a great job in leading Holston Home for a long time,” Williams said. “His shoes will be hard to fill.”
REACCREDITATIONIn August, Holston
Home learned that it had once again been re-accredited by the Council on Accreditation (COA): the respected interna-tional, independent, not-for-profit, child- and fam-ily-service, and behavior-al healthcare accrediting organization.
National accredita-tion measures the agen-cy’s policies, practices, and operations against national best-practice standards and testifies to the agency’s com-mitment to high qual-ity services and ethical practices.
Holston Home has carried national accred-
itation for the past 14 years.
“Re-accreditation is a detailed process that occurs every four years,” Masker said. “This pro-cess is evidence of our long-term commitment to excellence for the chil-dren and their families.”
As part of the 2012 re-accreditation process, four national peer review-ers conducted an exhaus-tive review of Holston Home and spent several days onsite reviewing operations and obtain-ing feedback from clients and their families, trust-ees and community part-ners.
STRENGTHS NOTEDUpon notification of the
re-accreditation, Holston Home was praised by COA for several strengths, including:
• The organization con-sistently practices within an ethical environment. They have earned and sustained the public trust and respect for several decades.
• The board is very passionate about the mis-sion and is committed to the services at Holston
Home. They are support-ive, engaged and active in the strategic direction of the organization.
• Facilities are clean, neat and well-main-tained. Fire and tornado drills are conducte, and critiqued for perfor-mance. Youth and staff are safe and secure.
• Foster Care is very well established with strengths-based services. Programs receive positive support from foster par-ents, a biological parent and the children in care. It is unique but very sig-nificant that this service received accolades from all three groups.
DCS COMMISSIONER VISITS In December, Holston
Home received a special visit from Tennessee Department of Children’s Services Commissioner Kate O’Day.
O’Day toured the cam-pus and met briefly with the organization’s board of trustees.
During her visit with Holston Home’s trustees, O’Day noted that the number of children in the state’s care is down. “But it is starting to come back up,” she said.
“The state really needs Holston Home to be strong,” she said.
“It has a long, distin-guished history of car-ing for children in its 117 years of operation. The tour showed me that Holston Home is making a good transition from ‘orphanage’ to the pro-fessional, multi-service agency it is today.”
O’Day thanked Holston Home for the good work that the agency does, and noted that the state need-ed more agencies such as Holston Home through-out Tennessee, especially East Tennessee.
Holston Home’s Masker To Retire; Williams To Replace Him
PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE SUNTennessee Department of Children’s Services Commissioner Kate O’Day, in the center of the back row, visited Holston United Methodist Home for Children in December. “Holston Home is making a good transition from ‘orphanage’ to the professional, multi-service agency it is today,” O’Day said at the time. Shown, from left to right in the front row, are Mary Margaret Denton, chairman of the Holston Home board of trustees; and Gayle Mrock, administrator of residential services. On the back row, left to right, are Bradley S. Williams, Holston Home chief operating officer; O’Day; and Arthur S. (Art) Masker, Holston Home president and CEO, who will retire in the fall. Williams has been named as Masker’s successor as president and CEO.
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Saturday, March 23, 2013 THE GREENEVILLE SUN BENCHMARKS EDITION 5www.greenevillesun.com
BY LISA WARRENSTAFF WRITER
The previous year saw a major leadership change as well as continued growth for Free Will Bap-tist Family Ministries, a Greene County-based Christian organization that provides a variety of services to children and families, including resi-dential group homes for children and youth who are in state custody.
On July 1, the Rev. Frank Woods took over the helm as the new Fam-ily Ministries executive director.
Wood succeeded Dr. James Kilgore, who stepped aside as the organization’s executive director on July 30 after nearly 15 years of service to Family Ministries.
Prior to becoming the new executive director, Woods had served as vice president of financial development and opera-tions for Family Minis-tries since 2005.
In addition, he had served on the Board of Trustees for 12 years, five of those as board chairman.
In a statement, the Rev. Derek Bell, chairman of the Board of Trustees and director of develop-ment, said, “I don’t think words can express our gratitude to Dr. Kilgore for his vision and leader-ship during his tenure, and we are equally as excited about our future under the direction of Rev. Woods, as we know that great things are yet to come for Family Min-istries.”
BELL IS NEW DIRECTORAlso this year, Bell was
named as the new direc-tor of development for Family Ministries.
He was formerly the pastor at First Free Will Baptist Church in Church Hill . He has been a mem-ber of the Family Min-istries Board of Trust-ees since 2005, and has
served as the chairman of the board since 2009.
Additionally, in July, it was announced that Col-leen Cox would be return-ing to Family Ministries to once again serve as the organization’s director of marketing and corporate development.
She previously served in that capacity, but, more recently, had been assis-tant director of alumni relations for Tusculum College. At the college, she was Tusculum’s pri-mary liaison for alumni and the college’s Alumni Executive Board.
Founded in 1939, Free Will Baptist Family Min-istries provides a variety of services to youth and families through resi-dential group homes, The Hope Center Cri-sis Pregnancy/Resource Center, and The Oaks
Retreat Center.
GOVERNOR’S BEND OPENSMost recently, FWBFM
has expanded its ser-vices to senior citizens through The Laurels Retirement and Assisted Living Center, located in Wise, Va., and the newly opened Governor’s Bend Retirement and Assisted Living Center, at 1631 Zane Whitson Drive, in Erwin.
A ribbon-cutting cer-emony to celebrate the opening of Governor’s Bend was held in Novem-ber.
At the event, Woods said that Family Minis-tries is “honored to be a part of the Town of Erwin and looks forward to a lasting partnership in caring for the senior citizens of this area.”
Governor’s Bend is a
48,000-square-foot facil-ity that consists of 52 suites featuring three different layout options.
It offers many ameni-ties such as a library, spa, beauty salon, bar-ber shop, chapel, wireless Internet, cable television, one-floor living, private mail boxes, 24-hour emergency assistance, and dining services.
HOPE CENTER’S SUCCESSThe Hope Center, the
crisis pregnancy center operated in Greeneville by Family Ministries, has seen continued suc-cess in the past year in reaching out to mothers-to-be in the community who find themselves at a crossroads in their lives.
Located at 314 Tuscu-lum Blvd., The Hope Cen-ter offers free services for teens and women who
find themselves in an unplanned, crisis preg-nancy situation.
Among The Hope Cen-ter’s services are: a 24-hour telephone hotline, free pregnancy tests, maternity clothing, baby clothes and supplies, edu-cation about fetal devel-opment, alternatives to abortion, post-abortion counseling, parenting classes, baby care classes and nutrition classes, as well as adoption informa-tion and referrals to a licensed adoption agency and referrals to mater-nity homes.
ULTRASOUND MACHINEAmong the newest ser-
vices now being offered by the center is an ultra-sound machine, which was purchased thanks to money donated by the Knights of Columbus
of Notre Dame Catholic Church and matched by Hope Center fundraising efforts.
The Knights of Columbus contributed $20,612.45 to The Hope Center for the ultra-sound, and the center was able to match those funds with approximately $19,000 raised through churches, individuals and businesses.
The ultrasound machine will be used as an educational tool to show women and teens who come to The Hope Center for counseling what their unborn baby looks and sounds like in the womb, said Sharon Hodgens, the center’s director.
The goal, Hodgens said, is to help them recon-sider abortion as a means of dealing with their unplanned pregnancy.
REV. FRANKLIN GRAHAMIn October, more than
325 local supporters of the Hope Center packed the ballroom of the Gen-eral Morgan Inn for the annual fundraising gala and to hear the Rev. Franklin Graham.
Graham, of Boone, N.C., the son of interna-
FWBFM Sees Leadership Change, Continues Growth, Outreach
SUN PHOTO BY LAUREN HENRYThe Knights of Columbus of Notre Dame Catholic Church partnered with The Hope Center to purchase an ultrasound machine for the crisis pregnancy center. Standing beside the purchased machine are, from left: Frank Woods, CEO and president of Free Will Baptist Family Ministries; Sharon Hodgens, Hope Center director; Timothy Shaw, Notre Dame Knights of Columbus treasurer; and Bud Noe, Deputy Grand Knight for the Notre Dame Knights of Columbus. The Hope Center is an outreach of Free Will Baptist Family Ministries.
PLEASE SEE FWBFM | 8
THE REV. FRANK WOODSNEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, FWBFM
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Brook DeLottoMarketing Director
Misty KeyExec. Director
Kathryn MyersDir. of Nursing
6 THE GREENEVILLE SUN BENCHMARKS EDITION Saturday, March 23, 2013 www.greenevillesun.com
BY KEN LITTLESTAFF WRITER
The December 2012 death of a resident of a state-run community home in Greene Coun-ty prompted a visit to Greeneville by the com-missioner of the state Department of Intellec-tual and Developmen-tal Disabilities (DIDD), and investigations of the death.
In an interview with The Greeneville Sun dur-ing that visit, Commis-sioner James M. Henry said the Greene Valley Developmental Center (GVDC) will continue to be a viable force in the area for years to come.
The elimination in 2011 of 338 positions at GVDC had a lasting impact on the community, and caused many local citi-zens to wonder about its future.
Henry said Greene Val-ley Developmental Center remains one of the most significant components of the DIDD system.
“Greene Valley has been a special place for this department and its responsibility in taking care of people. It is rec-ognized as the best devel-opmental center in the state,” Henry said. “The community has always accepted it.”
Physical improvements to the facility have been made in recent years, Henry said.
“We’re not shutting it down — that’s for sure,” he said.
Greene Valley remains one of Greene County’s major employers, provid-ing jobs for about 670 people.
DEATH INVESTIGATIONAn internal DIDD
investigation was con-ducted after the Dec. 2, 2012, death of 47-year-old Ronnie Derrick in a community home at 2015 Susong Drive.
Preliminary results of that investigation showed Derrick’s death “does not indicate that the death was a result of abuse or neglect by the staff.”
A separate investiga-tion by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation had not been completed by mid-March.
“The currently avail-able evidence in this case does not indicate that the death was a result of abuse or neglect by the staff at the East Tennes-see Community Home,” the DIDD report released in February states.
There are 13 commu-nity homes operating in Greene County, and three more scheduled to
open this year.Each one houses four
residents and is an Inter-mediate Care Facility (ICF), for intellectually disabled clients.
‘FOUL PLAY NOT SUSPECTED’
Results from Derrick’s autopsy were provided by the TBI to DIDD and made available in late February. The autopsy said that Derrick died of “a sudden cardiac death” likely brought on by chronic heart conditions and not by the excessive-ly hot temperature in his room on the night of his death.
“Foul play is not sus-pected in his death,” the autopsy summary said.
“[Derrick] had a medi-cal history of autism and was considered fair-ly ‘high functioning’ in that he was capable of expressing discomfort, although not via specific verbalization,” the sum-mary said.
Derrick was able to take care of “his own basic physical needs,” the summary added.
His medical history includes hypertension and high blood choles-terol.
Before he went to bed on the night of his death, Derrick was described as being in a “good mood” and expressed no discom-fort, the summary said.
HEATING MALFUNCTIONDerrick was found
dead in his room in the community home in the Camp Creek community
at 6:05 a.m. on Dec. 2, a Sunday morning.
On the night of his death, a malfunction of the heating system at the home resulted in a “significantly increased” temperature within his room, the autopsy sum-mary noted.
“When he was dis-covered deceased, it was noted that he had removed articles of cloth-ing and cast them off the bed, potentially as a response to increasing room temperature,” the summary said.
A core temperature of Derrick’s body was not taken at the scene, the summary noted.
“The room tempera-ture upon initial entry was estimated to be over 100 degrees; however, the actual temperature of the room was not measured at that time,” the sum-mary said.
Derrick was reportedly not confined to his room “and was free to leave the room of his own voli-tion,” according to the summary.
“Therefore, the ques-tion as to why the dece-dent did not leave his room when the tempera-ture had increased to an extreme is raised, since
he was capable of noti-fying others of discom-fort and taking care of his own basic physical needs,” it said.
ENLARGED HEARTDerrick had various
cardiac medical con-ditions, including “an enlarged and thickened heart” and narrowing of the blood vessels that supply the heart with blood, the autopsy sum-mary said.
He had “superficial burns” over part of his body and by the time he was found dead, the pro-cess of decomposition had already started, “likely accelerated by heat expo-sure,” the summary said.
“It is not possible to determine with certainty whether thermal injury to the skin is incurred [before death] or post-mortem,” the summary said.
Derrick’s risk of “sud-den unexpected cardiac death” was significant-ly increased due to the “severity” of his cardio-vascular disease, the summary said.
‘NATURAL’ DEATH“Given the investiga-
tive findings that the decedent did not exit the
room as the temperature increased, although he was capable of doing so and was known to express discomfort to staff as nec-essary; and the negative toxicological examination in this case, indicating he was in no way intoxicated or chemically impaired, it is considered most prob-able that [Derrick] suf-fered a sudden cardiac death rather than death by hyperthermia,” the summary said.
Hyperthermia is great-ly increased body tem-perature.
“The manner of death is natural,” according to the autopsy summary.
VISUAL CHECKS DONEThe DIDD report sum-
mary said that Derrick’s condition was “normal and routine” the night before his death and at bedtime.
“Visual bed checks were conducted hourly. This person preferred to not be disturbed throughout the night so bed checks were done visually with staff not physically enter-ing his room,” the report said.
But the investigation summary also said that one staff member on duty at the home “admitted to leaving his shift an hour and 10 minutes early without authorization.”
“It does not appear that this contributed in any way to the person’s death, as the home exceeded ICF [Intermediate Care Facilities] and DIDD staffing requirements,” the report said.
DIDD spokeswoman Missy Marshall said in February that “at this point in time, no policies have been changed” in connection with Derrick’s death.
Physical checks, as opposed to visual checks, on all home residents are one policy option, she said.
DIDD-Run Community Homes Cope With Death Of Resident
SUN PHOTO BY O.J. EARLYThis is the state-run community home, at 2105 Susong Road in the Camp Creek community, where 47-year-old resident Ronnie Derrick died on Dec. 2, 2012.
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Saturday, March 23, 2013 THE GREENEVILLE SUN BENCHMARKS EDITION 7www.greenevillesun.com
BY KRISTEN BUCKLESSTAFF WRITER
Construction is in full swing at Tusculum College after a year of expanding programs and receiving major dona-tions.
Major announcements by the college began in the summer with the cel-ebration of a $3.875 mil-lion gift toward a new center for science and math.
This was followed in the fall with announce-ments about new part-nerships between the United States Depart-ment of Agriculture Rural Development and the college, and between Tusculum and BlueCross BlueShield.
A $39 million USDA Community Facili-ties direct loan was announced in September and will allow the col-lege to lower its overhead while also funding reno-vations to Tredway Hall and construction of the new science and math facility.
Early this year, another $6 million loan from the USDA was announced, which is pro-viding resources for the construction of two new apartment-style resi-dence halls on campus.
In November, the college announced a $263,996 grant from BlueCross BlueShield of Tennes-see Health Foundation, which provided for the installation of a simula-tion lab for the new nurs-ing major program at the college.
The year also saw the establishment of the Center for Development and Entrepreneurship to serve local business-own-ers and entrepreneurs.
The program is an expansion of the student-founded-and-coordinated “Help Me Help You” pro-gram.
NEW FACILITIES The $39 million loan
from USDA for renova-tion of current space and construction of a new sci-ence and math building will significantly lower what the college pays in debt service for the building, making the new construction and renova-tion possible while also improving the college’s overall finances.
Plans for the new center for science and math were part of the announcement in July of a $3.875 mil-lion gift toward funding the construction of the facility.
The gift will be recog-nized with the naming of the new facility, the “Ronald H. and Verna June Meen Center for Science and Math.”
Mrs. Meen chose to make the gift in memory of her husband, Dr. Ron-ald H. Meen, who died in 2008 and was an organ-ic chemist for Eastman
Chemical Company.The Ronald H. and
Verna June Meen Center for Science and Math will be a three-story, 50,000-square-foot state-of-the-art science and math facility with an estimat-ed total project cost in excess of $15 million.
The architectural design will be consistent with the historic archi-tectural context of the campus.
RESIDENCE HALLSThe construction of two
new residence halls has also been made possible by the USDA partnership. The USDA Rural Devel-opment Office granted the college a $6 million Community Facilities direct loan in January.
Residence hall space has been a pressing need for the college for the past few years as the result of an occupancy rate of
more than 100 percent. With record numbers of
students living on-cam-pus, the college has uti-lized every resource avail-able, including increasing the occupancy in existing residence halls and using off-campus housing.
The new apartment-style residence halls will provide housing for 120 students.
Construction began this winter on the two new buildings, which will be located on the Gilland Street side of campus near the four existing apartment-style resi-dence halls.
The residence halls are expected to be completed in August 2013, in time for the fall semester.
NEW ACADEMIC PROGRAMS
Three new undergradu-ate majors and a master of business administra-
tion degree have been added to the college’s academic offerings in the past year.
Each was added after a feasibility study that included research into community and student needs.
Chemistry, criminal justice and nursing have been added as majors of undergraduate study.
Criminal justice and nursing programs were offered this academic year. Courses for the chemistry major will begin during the fall 2013 term.
Criminal justice and nursing are new majors for the college.
The chemistry major was last offered in the 1970s at the college, and a minor in the subject continued and remains an option.
The nursing program was the recipient of a
$263,996 grant from BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee Health Foun-dation, which funded the installation of a simula-tion laboratory for the program.
The grant funding was utilized to purchase and install two simulators, along with video record-ing equipment. In addi-tion, the funds are being used to train college and community partner staff in using the simulation equipment.
The lab has been used by community healthcare partners and is available for use by other academic programs at the college.
Using simulators allows students immediate feed-back from their peers and instructors.
Simulated clinical experiences provide the opportunity for students to administer indepen-dent nursing care and to observe the effects of their care.
In addition, the mas-ter of business admin-istration program began adding cohorts this fall in Knoxville. A cohort started at the Greeneville campus earlier this year, with others planned.
ADDITION IN MADISONThe college has entered
a partnership with Ashe-ville-Buncombe Techni-cal Community College to offer Tusculum’s mas-ter of arts in education degree program in North Carolina.
The college began a process to provide on-site instruction in Madison County after receiving requests from educators there to offer a master’s program in the area and after documenting the demand and need for the program.
The State of North Car-olina gave approval to the program in the fall. Tus-culum will offer the Mas-ter of Arts in Education
Tusculum College Enters Period Of Construction, Expansion
PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE SUNOfficials participating in a signing ceremony for the USDA Rural Development loan for construction of new residence halls at Tusculum College are, front row, from left: Tusculum President Dr. Nancy B. Moody, Rural Development State Director Booby Goode, and Tusculum Board of Trustees Treasurer Mark Williams. In the back row, from left, are: Joe Woody, Rural Development Area Director; Tusculum Vice President and CFO Steve Gehret; Louis Trivette, Rural Development Area Specialist; Tommy Burleson of Burleson Construction; architect John Fisher; Bridgett Baird, representing U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn.; and Lana Moore, representing U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn.
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Top Hospitals must earn an “A” in patient safety—a score calculated under the guidance of The Leapfrog Group*—
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8 THE GREENEVILLE SUN BENCHMARKS EDITION Saturday, March 23, 2013 www.greenevillesun.com
tionally-famed evange-list Billy Graham, was the keynote speaker at this year’s Hope Center Celebration Dinner.
Proceeds from the annual Hope Center Cel-ebration help to continue and expand the services that the center provides to local women, teens and babies who are in need.
Graham serves as president and CEO of Samaritan’s Purse, the international relief orga-nization, which he found-ed in 1979.
In addition, Graham also serves as the pres-ident and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelis-tic Association, founded by his father, 93, who is almost entirely retired.
Graham was welcomed to the Hope Center ben-efit by Greeneville busi-nessman and philan-throphist Scott M. Niswonger, who was instrumental in arrang-ing Graham’s visit to Greeneville for the annu-al fundraising event.
‘WORDS OF HOPE’The chairpersons for
this year’s Hope Center Celebration were Daniel Wolcott, president and CEO of Takoma Region-al Hospital, and his wife, Cynthia.
The theme of this year’s benefit for the center was “Words of Hope.”
During his keynote address, Graham said, “being able to give hope [to those in need] is a tremendous thing.”
He cited a passage from Scripture in the Book of Matthew about Jesus calming the storm on the sea.
Graham noted that Jesus’ friends and dis-ciples were extremely frightened as their boat threatened to capsize in the sudden storm that they encountered.
“In frustration they awakened Him and said, ‘Lord, don’t You care
that we are about to drown?!’”
The passage in Mat-thew recounts that Jesus arose, and told them not to worry — that He was with them.
“These guys had no hope, but their hope was with them,” Graham said. “Their hope was there.”
Jesus got up, and He rebuked the wind and waves. At once the sea was again calm, Graham said.
The disciples were amazed. “ ‘What kind of man is this?’ they asked, but they knew that Jesus was not just any man. He was the Son of God,” Graham said.
“Jesus Christ came to this earth to calm those storms that we find our-selves in,” he continued, adding that every one of us will find ourselves in a storm at some point in our lives.
“These young kids and others who come to the Hope Center find them-selves in a storm as well ... But we thank God that there are ministries like the Hope Center that can focus on a group with a storm that they are getting ready to go through — and can be an anchor for them ... and love them, pray with them, counsel them and give them Godly advice.”
FWBFMStarts on Page 5
DR. JAMES KILGORESTEPPED DOWN AS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Commissioner Henry said in February that one person was placed on administrative leave as a result of the death.
RESIDENTS BACK IN HOMEThe three other men
living in the group home returned there on Jan. 3, and Marshall said in February that East Tennessee Community Homes (ETCH) was in the process of moving a resident into Derrick’s former room.
DIDD officials have not commented on the role the high tempera-ture in his room may have played in his death.
The heating/cooling systems in the Susong Drive community home
where Derrick lived, and seven others built in Greene County about the same time, were all inspected, Marshall said in February.
“The HVAC systems in all eight homes were inspected by an inde-pendent heat and air company as a safety precaution. Problems were found in four homes, but correc-tive actions have been taken,” Marshall said.
“ETCH continues to measure room tempera-tures every 15 minutes when the [Susong Drive] home is occupied.”
Henry said in Decem-ber that the safety of community home resi-dents is an ongoing pri-ority.
“We spend all of our careers trying to take care of these people, and we didn’t want any harm to befall them,” he said.
HomesStarts on Page 6
Curriculum and Instruc-tion Degree program for licensed teachers with the first cohort expected to begin in June.
Classes will be held at Asheville-Buncombe Community College’s Madison County site.
DEVELOPMENT AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A new Center for Eco-nomic Development and Entrepreneurship estab-lished this fall aims to help students, business-owners and individuals in a number of areas related to entrepreneur-ship, small business development, personal f inance, and profes-sional development.
Programs and events are offered in seven dif-ferent divisions: busi-ness analysis, business education, entrepre-neurial advancement and implementation, community engage-ment and interac-tive learning, student empowerment through
business, business con-sulting, and personal finance.
Participants can attend the 10-session “Help Me Help You Pro-gram,” which has been recognized by the Clin-ton Foundation as one of the most promising student-led programs in the world.
In addition, monthly activities, guest speak-ers and events are open to the whole com-munity.
The center has part-nered with East Ten-nessee State Univer-sity’s Northeast Ten-nessee Regional Entre-preneurial Accelerator (NTREA). The goal of this program is to connect entrepreneurs with critical resources to accelerate business creation and growth.
Because of commu-nity support, attend-ees and program par-ticipants have not been charged a fee in any events and/or pro-grams.
More information about the center is avail-able at http://web.tuscu-lum.edu/cede.
TusculumStarts on Page 7
SUN PHOTO BY KEN LITTLEIndividuals instrumental in securing a $39 million U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Community Facili-ties direct loan for Tusculum College display an architectural rendering of the planned Ronald H. and Verna June Meen Center for Science and Math. Shown from left are: Board of Trustees member the Rev. Dr. Dan Donaldson; U.S. Rep. Phil Roe, R-1st, of Johnson City; Board of Trustees Chairman Dr. Ken Bowman; Tammye Trevino, USDA Rural Development administrator; Bobby Goode, Tennessee USDA Rural Development direc-tor; Tusculum President Dr. Nancy B. Moody; and Board of Trusteses member Scott M. Niswonger.
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Saturday, March 23, 2013 THE GREENEVILLE SUN BENCHMARKS EDITION 9www.greenevillesun.com
BY KRISTEN BUCKLESSTAFF WRITER
Enhancing and expanding programs and services to meet the specific edu-cational and workforce needs of Greene and surrounding counties continued to be the focus of the Greeneville/Greene County Campus of Walters State Com-munity College during the past year.
The college completed the pre-plan-ning phase for the major expansion of its local campus, with construction work on the first phase of the plan scheduled to start around the begin-ning of April.
In August 2011, WSCC President Dr. Wade McCamey unveiled plans for a $20 million expansion of the Greeneville/Greene County campus.
The plans call for the corners where Tusculum Boulevard meets College Street and Main Street to undergo a dramatic transformation.
The college plans to add 84,000-square-feet of new space so it can develop and expand workforce training
and educational programs to meet local economic demands.
The project is designed by Greeneville-based architect John Fisher and his architectural firm, Fisher + Associ-ates.
Fisher has stated that the 84,000-square-foot building will house the college’s residential police academy, the proposed fire academy and allied health programs.
The building is to include natural sci-ence and allied health labs and areas for student services such as a library, counseling, tutoring and financial aid.
The design by Fisher also includes outdoor spaces, such as a pedestrian plaza, and possibly an amphitheater, he said.
A $9 million appropriation related to the project from the Tennessee Board of Regents is the largest single state-supported capital outlay in the college’s 41-year history.
Construction To Begin Soon On WSCC Campus Expansion
PLEASE SEE WSCC | 10
SUN PHOTO BY JIM FELTMANThe George Jones House, on North Main Street, which was built in the period from 1830-1865, is likely to be demolished as a result of the $20 million planned expansion of the Greeneville-Greene County Center of Walters State Community College. The plans call for one of the main new buildings to occupy the site of the house. The property is owned by Walters State and is not officially a part of the Greeneville Historic District.
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Greeneville business-man and philanthro-pist Scott M. Niswonger committed to provide a required match, and pledged approximately $2 million to the project.
“We’re building it in phases,” said Associate Vice President for Com-munications and Mar-keting J.B. Pectol.
“What we’re getting ready to start is Phase One. We’re continuing to raise funds for the remaining phases.”
The new construction is expected to be completed by fall 2014, according to Pectol.
Stormwater drainage improvements around the construction site were completed earlier this month in a joint effort by the Greene County Highway Department and the Greeneville Pub-lic Works Department.
LIMITED ENROLLMENTBecause of the capac-
ity constraints of its current facility, the for-mer Laughlin Memorial Hospital building, the community college has been unable to increase enrollment in existing programs and create new programs to meet the community’s demand for additional allied health and public safety profes-sionals, spokesmen have stated.
The new space that will be built as part of the campus enhance-ment project is expected to significantly increase the number of individu-als who graduate each year with degrees in allied health, public safety and other areas of study.
In support of the G r e e ne v i l l e / G r e e ne County Campus enhancement proj-ect, Walters State was awarded a $500,000 grant from the Appa-lachian Regional Com-mission last year.
The ARC grant will fund the purchase of instructional equip-ment for academic programs that will be housed in the new building.
Walters State is pro-viding $500,000 in matching funds, bring-ing the total cost of the equipment purchase to $1 million.
Of this total, $500,000 will be used to pur-chase equipment for the physical therapist pro-gram and the proposed occupational assistant program, and $500,000 will fund equipment for the WSCC Regional Law Enforcement Acad-emy.
ECONOMIC IMPACTT h e W S C C
Greeneville campus is a significant force in the local economy, accord-ing to a study released last year of the college’s economic impact in the communty during 2010-2011, and its projected impact for 2011-2016.
According to the study, during 2010-2011 the local campus contrib-
uted $13.9-$14.5 mil-lion to the local econo-my in business volume and individual income generated by college expenditures, with major positive impact on hundreds of jobss.
The f igures were based on the college’s having spent approxi-mately $5.4 million in 2010-2011 to operate the Greeneville/Greene County campus, of which about $4.9 mil-lion, or 90 percent, was spent directly in Greene County.
The study notes that “the report is based largely on a standard model of economic impact modif ied for community colleges. The model uses con-servative income and employment multipli-ers to determine eco-nomic impact.”
The WSCC study also projected that, for the 2011-2016 period, including a $20 million expansion and renova-tion, the college would expend approximately $53.1 million to oper-ate the local campus, with about $39.7 mil-lion, or 75 percent, spent directly in this county.
The study also esti-mated the increased potential earning capacity of a class of Walters State Greene County graduates com-pared with their high school graduate coun-terparts.
The 2011 class as a whole could expect to earn as much as $90.7 million more over their work lifetime than individuals with only a high school diploma, the study said.
HIGH PLACEMENT RATESThere was also good
news for WSCC gradu-ates who plan to enter the workforce immedi-ately after graduating from Walters State.
Overall, the job place-ment rate for WSCC graduates in technical fields is 92 percent.
Twelve technical edu-cation programs at Wal-
ters State have a 100 percent job placement rate.
DUAL ENROLLMENTLast year, a total of
283 students from all four Greene County high schools and Greeneville High School enrolled in dual-enrollment courses at the WSCC Greeneville campus.
The dual enrollment program gives local high school juniors and seniors an opportunity to earn both college and high school credit in subjects such as Eng-lish, history, math, and natural science.
While a majority of dual-enrollment stu-dents take two or three courses to get a jump-start on their college education and save money, some extremely motivated students are actually earning enough credits to simultaneous-ly complete their high school and two-year col-lege degrees.
One such student was Tammy Knapp, who earned her associ-ate’s degree before she received her high school diploma from Greeneville High School.
Knapp graduated summa cum laude from Walters State in May 2012.
SERVICE LEARNERST he W S C C
G r e e ne v i l l e / G r e e ne County Campus Ser-vice Learners is one of the most active student groups on any Walters State campus.
Last semester, the group collected 3,135 pounds of food for the local food bank.
The group also oper-ates the Service Learn-ing Store on campus. The store is stocked with school supplies, snacks, bottled water and micro-wavable lunches — all available to students who need these items at no cost.
Students are also active with the Gifts for Kids organization, and volun-teer time with other orga-nizations.
The group has been recognized several times with the Volunteer Spir-it Award presented by The Greeneville Sun and the Volunteer Center of Greeneville and Greene County.
RECOGNITIONWalters State received
state and national rec-ognition last year for WSCC’s use of technol-ogy to improve student engagement, its service to industry, and in pub-lic safety.
The college was recently named a 2012-13 Apple Distinguished Program for its mobile-learning initiative.
The award is reserved for programs that meet criteria for innovation, leadership and educa-
tional excellence, and demonstrate Apple’s vision of exemplary learning environments.
Walters State was also ranked among the nation’s top 10 most tech-savvy community colleges in the annual “Digital Community Col-leges Survey.”
The survey is conduct-ed by eRepublic’s Cen-ter for Digital Education and “Converge Online.”
The college’s Division of Community Educa-tion, which offers classes at both the Greeneville/Greene County Campus and the Greene Technol-ogy Center, was recog-nized with the Interest Level Recognition in the annual Excellence in Tennessee recognition program administered
by the Tennessee Center for Performance Excel-lence.
This is the only state-wide quality program in Tennessee and is pat-terned on the Baldridge Performance Excellence Program.
The Division of Com-munity Education offers many non-credit pro-grams in Greene Coun-ty, including industrial safety, technical skills such as welding, and healthcare training for positions like certified nursing assistants.
Walters State was ranked the second-saf-est campus in Tennes-see and the 12th-safest campus in the country by StateUniversity.com for 2012.
The rankings are based on incidents of crime as reported by campus safe-ty officials and the result of the outstanding work of many individuals, includ-ing the Campus Police Department.
LOCAL ENROLLMENT Enrollment at the
WSCC Greeneville/Greene County Campus currently includes more than 1,100 credit degree-seeking students and more than 2,000 students taking non-credit cours-es.
About half of the college’s students are enrolled in university parallel pro-grams and transfer to four-year colleges and universities to complete their bachelor’s degree.
The other half are enrolled in technical education programs, such as nursing and engineering technol-ogy, that prepare them to enter the workforce immediately after earning associate degrees or technical certificates.
SUN PHOTO BY O.J. EARLYWork to replace partially-rusted-out storm drainage infrastructure takes place on North College Street in a parking lot at Walters State Community College, the site where the community college is planning a major expansion. The Greeneville Department of Public Works contracted with the Greene County Road Depart-ment to complete the project.
WSCCStarts on Page 9
BY SARAH GREGORYSTAFF WRITER
The beginning of a new chapter of leadership was one of the primary high-lights for the Greeneville City School System during the past year.
The year also saw Highland Elemen-tary School exit the year-round sched-ule in favor of the traditional school year calendar.
The school system was also recog-nized for leading the state in energy management.
STROUD BECOMES DIRECTORThe 2012-13 school year began a new
chapter for the city system, under the leadership of Dr. Linda B. Stroud as Director of Schools.
Dr. Stroud succeeded Dr. Lyle Ailshie, who served as Director of Schools for 12 years until accepting a position as Superintendent of Kingsport City Schools beginning in March 2012.
Stroud was selected for the position following an unusual decision by the Board of Education to forego the search process that typically accompanies a change in a school system’s leadership.
Board members cited input from the community, a long and impressive list of accomplishments by Stroud, and her demonstrated genuine love of students
as reasons for their decision. She began her tenure in early June
2012, saying that being appointed was an honor “because I love the school dis-trict so much.”
“Every decision is what’s best for kids,” she said.
With the change to the Stroud era, the city system also adopted a change in the motto and slogan used on offi-cial documents from the former “Small Town, World Class” to “Cultivate the Mind, Impact the Heart.”
HIGHLAND SCHEDULEA unanimous vote by the Board of
Education in October 2012 removed Highland Elementary School from the year-round schedule it had used since 1996.
Beginning with the 2013-14 academic year, the school will use the same cal-endar as the rest of the system.
Stroud said at the time of the vote that the changes were “very well received by the parents” of Highland students.
Highland Principal Brenda Ottinger and the school’s Instructional Spe-cialist, Pat Barnett, had proposed the change to the school board during an October retreat.
“We’ve got to look at what’s best for the kids,” they said, noting that state testing schedules necessitated
the change. As an example, they cited an incident
in which Highland students were back from a three-week break for only three days before a state-mandated stan-dardized test.
“Just because we have had the pro-gram for 16 years does not mean that program is effective for today,” said Board Chairman Craig Ogle.
The change went into effect after the 2012 Christmas break, but students will not be affected by the change until spring break.
Highland’s original spring break would have started on March 20 and lasted through April 5, but now, stu-dents join the rest of the city school system on spring break from March 25 to April 1.
Highland will, however, end the 2012-13 school year a bit earlier than other Greeneville City schools in order to meet the state and local requirements for 180 instructional days.
ENERGY MANAGEMENTThe Greeneville City School system
is leading the state in energy manage-ment — saving financial and energy resources and winning awards in the process.
The city schools system is one of only three in the state of Tennessee to have
ENERGY STAR-certified facilities. It is also the only system in the
state to have 100 percent of its school buildings — six in all — receive the ENERGY STAR certification.
An ENERGY STAR-certified facil-ity meets strict energy performance standards set by the U.S. Environmen-tal Protection Agency (EPA), uses less energy, is less expensive to operate, and results in fewer greenhouse gas emissions than its peers.
ENERGY STAR certification recog-nizes the top 25 percent of energy-effi-cient buildings in the nation that are classified as school facilities.
At an October 2012 meeting of the Board of Education, Truman Atkins, Ed.D., regional president of Energy Education, presented ENERGY STAR building certification and an Energy Stewardship award.
‘CONSERVING RESOURCES’The award “shows continuous growth
and development of the energy conser-vation program, and Greeneville City Schools have demonstrated that very well,” Atkins said at the time.
Melanie Williams, who heads the school system’s energy management
Dr. Linda Stroud Assumes Leadership Of City Schools
PLEASE SEE CITY | 12
SCHEMATIC DRAWING BY JOHN FISHER, COURTESY OF WSCC This schematic drawing shows the proposed development of the Greeneville-Greene County campus of Wal-ters State Community College that was presented to the Tennessee Board of Regents in connection with Wal-ters State’s application for a major grant. The view in this drawing is from the corner of Tusculum Boulevard and College Street, looking toward the downtown area.
www.greenevillesun.com THE GREENEVILLE SUN BENCHMARKS EDITION Saturday, March 23, 2013 11
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12 THE GREENEVILLE SUN BENCHMARKS EDITION Saturday, March 23, 2013 www.greenevillesun.com
program, said being mindful of energy con-sumption “started as a means of conserving resources.”
Williams compiles energy consumption data from weekly usage audits and tries to create inno-vative ways to manage the schools’ energy use, such as remote access controls that allow the buildings’ heating and cooling to be turned off completely when not in use, reducing small amounts of “phantom energy” that can drive up costs.
Energy use reductions have resulted in sig-nificant savings for the school system, which has seen a 21 percent decrease in energy costs in the two years since the program was started.
By September 2020, the Energy Education company with which the city system has part-nered projects $2.985 million in energy cost savings — a number that, combined with the school system’s history of exceeding expectations, could turn out to be sig-nificantly larger.
SACS ACCREDITATIONGreeneville City
Schools will no longer participate in AdvancEd Accreditation — for-merly known as South-ern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) Accreditation.
The Board of Educa-tion approved a propos-al in December 2012 to forego the accredita-tion as a cost-savings
measure. Stroud pointed out
that other area schools have also dropped the accreditation.
“It has no impact today on admission for college and university applica-tions for our students,” she said at the time.
“With tightening bud-gets and time lines, Greeneville City Schools leaders feel that spend-ing precious dollars on this redundant process must be evaluated,” she added.
Each year, the system was spending $4,550 for the accreditation.
The board voted unanimously to accept the proposal to end
participation.
TAX HIKE BALANCES BUDGETAn infusion of increased
revenue following a 20-cent county property tax increase approved in 2012 by the Greene County Commission led to a bal-anced budget for the city school system.
The 20-cent property tax increase approved by the County Commission designated 15 cents for education.
State law mandates that the Greeneville City Schools shares in schools-related county property tax revenues on the basis of Average Daily Atten-dance in local public schools.
That generally equals a 70/30 percent split between the county and city school systems, respectively.
In late July, before the tax increase was approved, the city Board of Education adopted a $24,052,136 general pur-pose budget for 2012-13.
At that time, more than $500,000 in cuts to posi-tions, salaries, hours, and programs were made.
Another $500,000 had to be tapped from the school system’s fund bal-ance to make ends meet.
“We can’t cut any fur-ther,” said Stroud at the time, adding, “we’re bal-ancing a deficit budget of half-a-million dollars.”
The county property tax increase, however, meant that an additional, esti-mated $500,000 would be made available for the Greeneville City Schools, allowing the system to operate under a balanced budget without pulling money from the fund bal-ance.
Board of Education member Jerry Anderson said at the time, “We were going to take money out of our reserves” to balance the 2012-13 bud-get. “Now we don’t have to.”
BUDGET ALLOCATIONSThe balanced budget
passed by the city Board of Education included a
2.5 percent raise for pro-fessional staff as man-dated by the state and a 25-cent hourly wage increase for non-certified employees.
The budget also pre-pared for a 9.2 percent increase in health insur-ance costs that became effective Jan. 1, 2013.
The biggest expense category, “regular instruction,” budgeted $11,773,118 in expendi-tures that included teach-er salaries.
Revenues included in the budget were $11,900,309 from state funds and $5,717,185 that included an appro-priation as well as transfers and insurance recovery from the Town of Greeneville.
The Town’s annual appropriation to the school system has not changed since the 2007-08 budget year, holding steady at $5,442,395.
Requests for addi-tional funding from the Town have met with mixed success.
For 2012-13, the sys-tem requested an addi-tional $519,709, which included $35,000 for the credit recovery and tutoring program to reduce dropout rates and another $250,000 for use in capital projects.
However, the Town approved an additional appropriation of only $234,709, to fund an additional mathematics teacher for Greeneville High School, two teacher assistants at Greeneville Middle School, and the pur-chase of two buses.
The additional teach-ing positions, however, were not funded on a recurring basis.
CityStarts on Page 10
SUN PHOTO BY LAUREN HENRYThe Greeneville Board of Education voted in 2012 to change Highland Elementary School’s academic calendar from year-round to coincide with the traditional calendar. Shown, from left to right, are: Vice Chairman Cindy Luttrell; Director of Schools Dr. Linda Stroud; board Chairman Craig Ogle; Mary Ellen Honeycutt, Stroud’s administrative assistant; board member Mark Patterson; board member Jerry Anderson; board member Mike Hollowell; and student representative Parker Mitchell.
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Saturday, March 23, 2013 THE GREENEVILLE SUN BENCHMARKS EDITION 13www.greenevillesun.com
BY KRISTEN BUCKLESSTAFF WRITER
The Greene County School System’s 2012-2013 budget received the Board of Education’s final approval in August.
The budget includes $45.5 million in rev-enues balanced against the same amount in expenditures, thanks in large part to a 20-cent county property tax increase approved earlier that same month by the Greene County Commis-sion.
Of that increase, the commission designated 15 cents for education.
State law mandates that these funds be split between the local school systems based on Average Daily Attendance, which normally results in an about 70 percent/30 per-cent division between the county schools and the Greeneville City Schools, respectively.
Director of County Schools Dr. Vicki Kirk said in August that 70 percent of the revenue from the 15 cents allo-cated for the schools in the tax increase would amount to an addition-al $1.38 million for the county school system.
Of that, $1.19 million balanced the system’s anticipated budget defi-cit, and another portion provided 2 percent raises for the system’s classified (non-teaching) employ-ees.
Any additional revenue went for items such as instructional supplies, library books, and capital projects.
The tax increase also
allowed the board to avoid proposed deep cuts to balance the deficit, including the possibility of closing Glenwood Ele-mentary School. (Please see related article, Page 15.)
“I would like to thank all citizens of this com-munity, and this coun-ty, for the sacrifice that they’ve made with having to pay additional money — property-owners and anyone else,” School Board Chairman Roger Jones said.
“We’re going to work
hard to make sure we stand true to that.”
SCHOOL START DELAYEDEarlier that same
month, the board decided in a split vote to delay the start of school by one week following the fail-ure of a referendum on a proposed $20 wheel tax increase to fund the sys-tem’s deficit.
The increase proposed in the referendum would have doubled the coun-ty’s current $20 Motor Vehicle Tax, more com-monly referred to as the
wheel tax.The referendum failed
by a 58-to-42 percent mar-gin, with 6,025 opposed and 4,340 in favor.
Majorities in seven precincts voted in favor of the increase, while majorities in 32 precincts were opposed
Director of Schools Kirk said the delay in starting school was needed to minimize the disruption for students that would be likely if a property tax increase was not approved by the County Commission and
it became necessary for budgetary reasons to shift students and/or teachers to schools different from the ones for which they had been scheduled.
SCHOOL CALENDARVoting against the
delay to the school calen-dar were board members Kathy Austin and David Johnson.
“I think we need to get on with the curricu-lum,” Johnson said. “If the County Commission deals us a fatal blow on the 13th, we’ll make the
necessary cuts and pro-ceed with what we have left.”
The remaining board members, including Nathan Brown, Rex Hopson, Kathy Craw-ford, Jones, and Mark Douthat, voted to approve the delay.
As a result, schools did not open until Aug. 15, fol-lowing the Aug. 13 meet-ing of the Greene County Commission to approve all county budgets and the county property tax levy for the 2012-2013 budget year.
The delay prompted changes to the 2012-2013 calendar for the first semester, including:
• Aug. 31 was no lon-ger a part of the Labor Day Holiday, leaving only Monday, Sept. 3, for that holiday;
• Oct. 15-16 and Nov. 21 were regularly-scheduled school days for students, rather than the previ-ously-scheduled holidays; and,
• Dec. 18 was a full day, rather than an abbrevi-ated day, while Dec. 19 was an abbreviated day rather than a full holi-day.
No dates changed in the second semester.
WGHS WING DEDICATEDIn addition to the strug-
gle the board faced with the budget, members also faced the loss of Claude “Junior” Weems Jr., who died at 79 from injuries sustained in a farming accident.
Just prior to his death, the board had voted to dedicate a new classroom
Property Tax Increase Clears Way For County Schools’ Start
SUN PHOTO BY O.J. EARLYGreene County Board of Education Chairman Roger Jones and County Director of Schools Dr. Vicki Kirk pin-point areas of change from a proposed county schools budget that included a $1.19 million deficit, to a larger, balanced budget following the Greene County Commission’s adoption of a 20-cent property tax increase in August.
PLEASE SEE COUNTY |14
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wing at West Greene High School in his honor.
Weems was a 10-year member of the board, as well as a long-time member of the Mosheim Board of Mayor and Aldermen.
In December, the dedi-cation of the new Fresh-man Academy wing included a special cer-emony in Weems’ memo-ry, including two plaques placed in the wing in his honor.
These were made pos-sible through community donations.
“As a school board, we will try our best to continue those things as we walk forward,” Jones said. “We can’t match his step, but we can follow
his lead.”Members of the Weems
family attending included his wife, Janet, and their children, Bryan Weems and Shari Weems-Cook.
NEW PRINCIPALSOther items in the
past year included the placement of three new principals in the county system.
• Diann Musgrove is now serving as principal at DeBusk Elementary School.
Musgrove has been a teacher at Doak, Chuck-ey-Doak Middle School and DeBusk.
She was recognized as the C-DMS Teacher of the Year in 2011-2012.
Musgrove completed a bachelor’s degree at East Tennessee State University, a master’s degree at Tusculum College and an Educa-tional Specialist Degree
at Lincoln Memorial University.
• Catherine McCoy returned to Chuckey Elementary School as the principal after serv-ing in an interim position the previous year.
McCoy has eight years’ experience as a teacher and three years’ experi-ence as an assistant prin-cipal at Doak Elementary School.
She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Tuscu-lum College and earned a master’s degree in Edu-cational Leadership from East Tennessee State University.
• Filling the assistant principal position at Doak Elementary School was Autumn Sunshine Broyles, who also served in an interim role in the past year.
Broyles taught at Doak Elementary for 12 years.
She received her bach-
elor’s degree from East Tennessee State Univer-sity, a master’s degree in education at Tuscu-lum in 2006, and Educa-tional Specialist degree in administration and supervision in 2008 from Lincoln Memorial Uni-versity.
“I am very pleased with the knowledge, skills, and talents that each of the administrators will bring to the assigned positions,” Kirk said upon making the announce-ments in July.
“These educators have demonstrated strong lead-ership abilities, and they have pursued advanced training opportunities in the field of education.
“I am confident that the students, parents, and community mem-bers will be involved in many positive education-al experiences at these schools,” Kirk added.
CountyStarts on Page 13
SUN PHOTO BY O.J. EARLYGreene County Board of Education Chairman Roger Jones looks on as Director of Schools Dr. Vicki Kirk signs an extension of her contract with the Greene County School System in early 2012.
SUN PHOTO BY KRISTEN BUCKLESOfficials with the Greene County School System gather at the Chuckey-Doak High School football field in October to celebrate with a ribbon-cutting for the school’s new field-house, shown behind them. Chuckey-Doak was the final county high school to receive a new fieldhouse. Present, from left to right, were: County Board of Education member Tommy Cobble, C-DHS football coach Aaron Christian, County Director of Schools Dr. Vicki Kirk, school board Chairman Roger Jones, school board member Kathy Crawford, C-DHS Principal Michael Garland, school board member Rex Hopson, County Schools Transporta-tion Director Clark Justis, and school board members Nathan Brown and Mark Douthat.
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Saturday, March 23, 2013 THE GREENEVILLE SUN BENCHMARKS EDITION 15www.greenevillesun.com
BY KRISTEN BUCKLESSTAFF WRITER
Glenwood Elementary School is still alive with the sounds of students this year, but the school, the smallest in the coun-ty, barely escaped the budgetary chopping block in 2012.
In May, with the Greene County School System facing an anticipated $1.2 million budget deficit for the 2012-2013 fiscal year, Director of Schools Dr. Vicki Kirk presented the County Board of Educa-tion with a list of possible budget cuts.
The list, she explained, was not a list of propos-als, and there was no priority order among the items on the list.
They were all, she said, just possible options for the board members to consider if they found that they, along with her, had to carve $1.2 mil-lion out of the 2012-2013 school budget in order to balance it.
Included on that list of options was the possibil-ity of closing Glenwood School, a step estimated to bring a budgetary sav-ings of $590,000 made possible in various ways including not filling sev-eral open teaching posi-tions there.
Closing the school was by far the largest single item on the list in terms of the money it would save the school system.
Another “hot-button” option on the list, and one of the larger ones, was eliminating salary supplements for county school system coaches: a step that, if taken, was expected to eliminate traditional athletics in the county schools, with a budgetary savings of about $265,000.
The list also included a number of other options, such as reducing the number of music pro-gram teachers and driver education teachers, and
paying retiring teachers’ “loyalty incentive bonus-es” from the system’s fund balance rather than from the operating budget.
‘COMMUNITY’S HEART’However, no potential
cut stirred emotion like the potential closing of a school that Glenwood parents said holds their community together. School board member Kathy Austin referred to closing a school as “disen-franchising a whole com-munity.”
“Any time you [close a school], you’re losing the heart of the com-munity,” she said. “After your churches, it’s your schools.”
Austin frequently requested that the board remove Glenwood as one of the potential cuts, say-ing that the system was holding a community hostage.
Parents, teachers and
students all echoed this sentiment during “red outs,” in which they wore the school’s red mascot shirts to community meetings, and to public hearings on the school budget.
Paul Burkey, a repre-sentative of Glenwood’s Parent Teacher Associa-tion, addressed the school board during a public hearing.
He asked that the board do “the right thing” and keep the school open.
“As you look over at the sea of red, you see a lot of them are here in support tonight,” he said. “Our purpose for being here is to keep Glenwood open.”
He also asked them not to ignore the fact that closing Glenwood would mean closing the only public building on War-rensburg Road.
“No one will be able to say, ‘I’m from Glenwood,’ again. That’s because
Glenwood [as a communi-ty] won’t exist,” he said.
Finally, Burkey noted that his children have, in the past, attended schools in big cities that are well funded and able to achieve the results Greene County dreams of acheiving.
However, those schools strove to mimic the close-knit quality that he said comes naturally in places such as Glenwood.
“As you pursue their results, it would be a shame if you failed to preserve what those very schools take extraordi-nary efforts to manufac-ture,” he said.
DEFICIT EXPLAINEDThroughout the pro-
cess, County School Board Chairman Roger Jones said that the sys-tem could not make any further budget cuts with-out “causing harm” to the school system’s core
responsibility of provid-ing a good academic edu-cation to its students.
“We’ve cut about all we can cut,” he said. “[To make these cuts] we’re affecting the level of edu-cation in this county. We need to be raising the bar instead of lowering it.”
Kirk explained the increases in expenditures as the result of scheduled or expected increases, such as a state-required 2.5 percent pay increase for certified employees, step (or scheduled) salary increases based on the number of years employ-ees are with the system, and a 9 percent increase in the cost of medical insurance.
These increases exceed-ed the projected revenue increases for the school system, she said.
Closing Glenwood was under consideration because of its small size, she added.
“An inefficiency in this school system is running small schools,” Kirk told the board.
Closing Glenwood would have cut several positions and reduced energy and other costs.
The district’s smallest schools include Glenwood, West Pines and Ottway elementary schools.
PUBLIC HEARINGNumerous members of
the Glenwood community took the opportunity to express their fears and frustrations about the possible closing of Glen-wood Elementary School to elected officials during a public hearing held at the school in July.
The Town Hall-type gathering was at times boisterous.
Members of the school’s Parent Teacher Associa-tion headed up the meet-ing, which drew about 200 faculty, staff, students, parents and others to the school’s gymnasium.
Burkey moderated the session.
He had intended for the meeting to conclude at 8 p.m., but disgruntled Glenwood parents and school employees began calling down from the stands, asking why the officials needed to leave at 8, and demanding answers to further ques-tions.
The officials agreed to stay longer and accepted many questions outside the moderated format.
During this part of the meeting, the tone often became heated, with the audience demand-ing answers and the questions at times slip-ping into insults and accusations.
COMMUNITY FEEDBACKLong-time Glenwood
teacher Windy Hensley was the first to address the officials with a writ-
Glenwood Elementary School Remains Open After A Close Call
PLEASE SEE GLENWOOD | 16
SUN PHOTO BY O.J. EARLYPaul Burkey, standing, of the Glenwood Elementary School Parent Teacher Association, encourages the Greene County Board of Education to keep the school open despite budget difficulties.
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16 THE GREENEVILLE SUN BENCHMARKS EDITION Saturday, March 23, 2013 www.greenevillesun.com
ten speech emphasizing how upset she has been about the potential clos-ing.
“Glenwood Elementary School is not an economic burden. It is an invest-ment into the future of this community,” Hensley said. “Glenwood Elemen-tary School is the soul of this community.”
PTA President Shel-ley Knight stood in the bleachers, saying that it did seem as though Glen-wood is being “picked on” when they are the only school on the list of cuts.
One student, Trevor Shelton, said that he is an A-B honor roll stu-dent who lives closer to Mosheim but chooses to go to Glenwood for the
benefits of a smaller school.
He asked the board members to recall the uncomfortable fear every student feels on the first day of school, saying that the board would not even suggest closing Glen-wood if they cared about the students.
“You’re killing our hope,” he said.
EXPENDITURES QUESTIONEDOthers quizzed the
board on planned or recent expenditures, including employee rais-es that were not man-dated by the state, and building improvements such as the Chuckey-Doak High School field-house.
Jones explained that the money used for the fieldhouse was a one-time expenditure and that the school system
could not continuously pay an operating defi-cit out of the system’s reserve funds.
The chairman told the audience that there is not a single member of the board that wants to see Glenwood closed, and he urged the parents and teachers to carry on as if the school will remain open in the coming year.
“Right now, your school is open,” he said.
The following month’s vote by the Greene County Commission to increase property taxes by 20 cents, 15 cents of which went to the schools, provided more than enough revenue to cover the anticipated def-icit, preventing any cuts and allowing the school to remain open. (Please see related article on Page 13.)
GlenwoodStarts on Page 15
BY O.J. EARLYSTAFF WRITER
Several local educators were honored for service in 2012.
In May, longtime Greeneville High School math teacher Betty Burley was presented the Kathryn W. Leonard Outstanding Service to Students Award at the Greeneville City Schools Personnel Banquet.
The annual award for the Teacher of the Year was presented by Chuck Whitfield, then chairman of the Greene County Partnership.
Whitfield described Burley as “a dedicated professional who loves kids, teaching and the Greeneville City Schools.”
He added that she has a “loving, quiet, and gentle nature about her.”
Burley was an educator for 50 years, including 38 years at Greeneville High School.
The award recipient is selected by a vote of the school system staff. The recognition includes a $1,000 prize.
Former Glenwood Ele-mentary School Princi-pal Lynda Edwards was presented the “Out-standing Service to Stu-dents Award” during the Greene County Schools Personnel Reception in May.
Edwards retired at the end of 2012, stepping down as Glenwood’s prin-cipal.
The top award was pre-sented to her by Chuck Whitfield, then chair-
man of the Greene Coun-ty Partnership Board of Directors.
He described Edwards as being very competi-tive, with a passion for teaching.
According to Whitfield, Edwards was the driving force behind many new programs implemented at the schools where she has been a teacher or principal.
“God has blessed me
richly,” Edwards said in May.
She had been principal of Glenwood Elementary School since 2002.
Before that, she was a business teacher at West Greene High School, assistant principal at Doak Elementary School and principal at both Camp Creek and Ottway elementary schools.
Tusculum College President Dr. Nancy
B. Moody was awarded the first-ever Founders Award in February 2013, presented by the Tus-culum College Board of Trustees.
The award was pre-sented at a reception dur-ing a Board of Trustees meeting by Dr. Kenneth A. Bowman, chair of the Tusculum Board and a 1970 alumnus of the col-lege.
The Founders Award, named in memory of the Rev. Samuel Doak, the Rev. Samuel Witherspoon Doak and the Rev. Heze-kiah Balch, is presented by the Tusculum College Board of Trustees to rec-ognize those who moved Tusculum College for-ward in serving its stu-dents, its community and the world.
“[Dr. Moody] has dis-tinguished herself as an executive leader through her vision, hard work and dedication to the college,” Bowman said in Febru-ary.
“Since her arrival at Tusculum College, Dr. Moody has embraced the opportunity to encourage faculty, staff, students and volunteers to push Tusculum College for-ward through creative teaching and learning, responsible steward-ship, and a renewed commitment to service and civic engagement,” he added.
Awards Honor Educators For Their Service And Achievements
SUN PHOTO BY O.J. EARLYBetty Burley, longtime mathematics teacher at Greeneville High School, received the Kathryn W. Leon-ard Outstanding Service to Students Award in 2012. The award was presented during the Greeneville City School System’s personnel banquet by Chuck Whit-field, chairman of the Greene County Partnership.
SUN PHOTO BY O.J. EARLYLynda Edwards, left, was presented the “Outstand-ing Service to Students Award” in May 2012 for the Greene County School System. Greene County Direc-tor of Schools Dr. Vicki Kirk is at right.
PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE SUNDr. Nancy B. Moody received the inaugural Founders Award, presented by the Tusculum College Board of Trustees, in early 2013. Board of Trustees Chair Ken-neth A. Bowman is at right.
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Saturday, March 23, 2013 THE GREENEVILLE SUN BENCHMARKS EDITION 17www.greenevillesun.com
BY O.J. EARLYSTAFF WRITER
The Greene Technology Center, formerly known as the Greeneville-Greene County Center for Technology, was christened with its new name in 2012.
The name change came in June 2012, when the Joint Board of Education voted unanimously to approve the deci-sion.
In doing so, the school shifted to a more “green” focus, a niche that makes it the first such entity in Tennessee.
In addition, the center plans to become a satellite school for the Tennessee Technology Center in Morristown.
“This is the first one in the state. The state’s been waiting for someone to do this,” center Principal Jerry Ayers said in June. “I think this will be the only full ‘green’ technology center in the nation at the secondary-level in the public school sector.”
He added: “We also believe it will provide a wonderful marketing tool, not only for the two school systems, but also for the Greene County Partnership as we recruit new business and indus-try into this community.”
MORE ACCURATE NAMEAccording to Ayers, the name change
was needed in order to give a more accurate description of what the center currently offers.
In the past, Ayers has said in several meetings, the center was a place that students went if college was not an option.
Now, the center is a place to prepare for specific careers, many of which lead students to post-secondary schooling.
Several “open houses” have been held since the name change in June, with the center’s teachers showing off the offered programs.
SATELLITE SCHOOLAlong with the name switch, another
major change is in the works, according to Ayers.
Under current plans, the center would serve as early as Fall 2013 as a satellite school for the Tennessee Tech-nology Center in Morristown, in order to alleviate the long waiting list facing students interested in post-secondary certifications.
The Tennessee Board of Regents will first have to approve this proposal, Ayers said, a decision which may not occur until April 2013.
If given the green light, the satellite school would begin with four programs: welding, machine tool, industrial elec-tricity and industrial maintenance.
Class schedules at the center will be reworked to allow advanced students to come in the afternoons instead of
the mornings so that they can stay for the evening classes and begin working on their certifications while they are still in high school, Ayers reported in March.
“The devil is in the details. We’ve got a lot of work to do,” Ayers said.
His latest public report came in March during a meeting of the Educa-tion and Workforce Committee.
HISTORYThe center, located at 1121 Hal
Henard Road, has been in operation for nearly 40 years.
It is operated jointly by the Greeneville and Greene County school systems, receiving funding by revenue from the state government and the Greeneville and Greene County governments.
The Greeneville City Schools Sys-tem is the Technology Center’s fiscal agent.
The Greeneville and Greene County school systems send students to the center throughout the academic year, with classes offered during normal school hours.
In 2011-2012, more than 400 high-schoolers each term took classes at the center.
Available trade programs include welding, auto mechanics, auto body repair, cosmetology, carpentry and
machine-tool technology.Courses also are offered in comput-
er repair technology and networking, criminal justice, early childhood educa-tion careers, health science and pre-engineering
These courses provide entry-level or pre-professional training in technical fields.
The center also provides an adult education program designed with assis-tance from area businesses and indus-tries to meet their particular training needs.
PARTNERSHIP WITH WSCCThe center has entered into a part-
nership with Walters State Community College, and most adult and industry training is administered by WSCC.
Training includes the following two components:
• pre-employment programs designed to meet the needs of new and expand-ing industry, and training for new hires; and
• industry-specific courses designed by WSCC and Technology Center staff at the request of area businesses and industries to meet specific training or retraining needs for their employees. Courses may be taught at the center or on-site at a company location.
The center’s telephone number is 639-0171, and the website is www.gcschools.net/cft/.
Greene Technology Center Has New Name, Updated Focus
SUN PHOTO BY O.J. EARLYGreeneville Director of Schools Dr. Linda Stroud and Greene Technology Center Principal Jerry Ayers review curriculum development plans for the updated Greene Technology Center.
SUN PHOTO BY LAUREN HENRYCrimsinal Justice student Shalimar Mathes, a sophomore at Greeneville High School, drives the Police Patrol simulator at the Greene Technology Center. Class-rooms were open to the public in November, and attendees could get a hands-on experience with many of the programs that are being offered.
For more information contact
The Greeneville Sun Classifi eds 638-4185 or email to
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18 THE GREENEVILLE SUN BENCHMARKS EDITION Saturday, March 23, 2013 www.greenevillesun.com
BY KEN LITTLESTAFF WRITER
The safety of stu-dents in Greeneville and Greene County schools has become a frequently discussed issue, particu-larly after the December school shootings in New-town, Conn.
The topic also came to the forefront after two school bus crashes in the area last year resulted in the death of a student in one case, and injuries to dozens of other students after a September 2012 crash in Washington County near the Greene County line.
POLICE IN SCHOOLSGreene County par-
ents and educators joined other Americans in expressing shock follow-ing the fatal shootings of 26 students and adults on Dec. 14, 2012, at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.
Talk locally focused on how students in Greeneville and Greene County can be protected from a similar tragedy. The discussion contin-ues.
Solutions differ for the city and county school systems, as administra-tors and school board members struggle with the costs associated with providing some forms of enhanced security.
GREENEVILLE SCHOOLSGreeneville police
officers will provide enhanced, armed securi-ty at all Greeneville City Schools for at least the rest of this school year, following action in Janu-ary by the Greeneville Board of Mayor and Aldermen.
Prior to the Connecticut shootings in December, an officer was already assigned to provide secu-rity throughout the school day at Greeneville High School, while a second officer rotated on patrol among Greeneville Mid-
dle School and the four elementary schools.
After the shootings, an officer was quickly placed at GMS and each of the four elementary schools throughout the school day, in addition to the officer on duty at GHS.
Then, in January, the Board of Mayor and Aldermen unanimously approved a motion to continue the enhanced security arrangement through the end of the 2012-2013 school year without further approval from the board, at a cost that should not exceed $73,000.
The decision to put offi-cers in schools for the rest of the 2012-2013 school year came after a Jan. 3 meeting between Greeneville Director of Schools Dr. Linda Stroud, Mayor W.T. Daniels, police Chief Terry Can-non and City Administra-
tor Todd Smith.
DISCUSSIONS CONTINUEThe board also contin-
ues discussions about long-term security proce-dures at the schools.
Options suggested in January by City Admin-istrator Todd Smith include:
• hiring four addi-tional city police officers to provide one officer in each school — an option that would not be avail-able until the 2013-2014 school year because of the time it takes to hire and train officers.
The hiring of the four additional officers would come with one-time costs of $110,000 for new cruis-ers, $16,000 for training, and $4,500 for uniforms/equipment. In addition, annual costs with that option would include $129,000 for salaries and $64,000 for benefits.
• temporarily enhanc-ing security at the schools for the remainder of the 2012-2013 year. The cost is estimated at $80,000 to cover the cost of officers’ overtime for the remain-der of the current fiscal year, which ends on June 30.
• implementing a direc-tive requiring all on-duty police officers to be “sta-tioned” at a school dur-ing school hours when not responding to a call.
COUNTY SCHOOLSIn the Greene County
School System, an armed guard has been stationed at each of the four county high schools for years, but such guards are not pres-ent at the other schools.
As of January, no con-sensus had been reached in the county school sys-tem concerning assigning armed security guards in elementary and middle
schools.In a nearly-unani-
mous vote in January, the Greene County Com-mission agreed that any mandate from the state to have armed security officers in every school should be paid for from the state’s budget and not using county funds.
The County Commis-sion resolution was spon-sored by Commissioner Robert Bird.
Bird, a retired FBI special agent and a for-mer mayor of the City of Tusculum, summed up his resolution concerning armed guards: “The pur-pose of the resolution is, if you do it, pay for it,” he said.
The county does not need to face another “unfunded state man-date,” Bird stated.
BOARD SAFETY COMMITTEEIn February of this
year, the Greene County Board of Education held the first meeting of the board’s newly-formed Safety Committee.
Board of Education member Nathan Brown led the meeting and told other members about rec-ommendations provided from an administrative safety subcommittee formed by county Director of Schools Dr. Vicki Kirk.
The subcommittee includes principals, administrators and local law enforcement officers, who are working together to review policies, proce-dures and all aspects of the school system’s safety measures.
Their recommendations were forwarded to the board’s Safety Committee for further cost analysis.
The cost of implement-ing the enhanced security recommendations could be expensive, but committee members emphasized the importance of the need.
“We’ve got to do some-thing [to improve safety], but we’ve got to be care-ful, too,” board member Tommy Cobble said, refer-ring to not having funds diverted from other impor-tant budgetary areas.
OFFICERS IN SCHOOLSSome safety improve-
ments will come with a cost, said Brown, who pre-sented a list of priorities developed by the admin-istrative safety subcom-mittee.
“[An officer in every school] — that was their number one recommenda-tion, that we should ask for it,” Brown reported.
In conjunction with the recommendation, the com-mittee agreed to research the costs, grant availabil-ity and state aid.
Safety Committee mem-bers agreed that placing an officer in each of the county’s 17 schools carries a significant cost factor, in addition to the county’s
Newtown Shootings, Local Bus Incidents Raise Safety Issue
SUN PHOTO BY SARAH GREGORYDr. Linda B. Stroud, director of schools for the Greeneville City School System, leaves Greeneville Middle School after a lockdown was lifted Feb. 13, 2013, when a report of a suspicious and possibly armed man nearby was determined to be unfounded. An unidentified parent leaves the school at the same time.
PLEASE SEE SAFETY | 19
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• Greeneville City Schools received all A’s on the Tennessee State Report Card
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• Greeneville High School graduation rate of 97.4%
• Greeneville High School named to the Advanced Placement Honor Roll for the second consecutive year
• Recipient of International Society for Technology in Education Dr. Sylvia Charp Award
• Continued successful operation of the Northeast Tennessee Professional Development Center serving 17 area school districts
• Greeneville High School named U.S. Department of Education Blue Ribbon School
• Greeneville High School recognized in 2007 ACT Report entitled “Rigor at Risk: Reaffi rming Quality in the High School Core Curriculum”
• Greeneville Middle School named 2011 Blue Ribbon Lighthouse School
• Greeneville Middle School named 21st Century School of Distinction for Technology Excellence
• Tusculum View Elementary School named a Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence Lighthouse School in 2005 and a Tennessee Reward School in 2012
• Eastview Elementary School named U.S. Department of Education Blue Ribbon School
• Hal Henard Elementary School awarded Tennessee 21st Century Community Learning Center Grant
• Greeneville High School State Champion athletic teams:
• Football - 2010, 2011 • Girls’ Cross Country - 2010 • Boys’ Cross Country - 2011, 2012 • Wrestling - 2013
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Saturday, March 23, 2013 THE GREENEVILLE SUN BENCHMARKS EDITION 19www.greenevillesun.com
desire to study the issue before imple-menting changes.
“It would definitely be a good part of this plan,” Brown said.
SAFETY ENTRANCESBrown said among the subcommit-
tee’s recommendations is constructing a safety entrance at every school that allows an administrator to buzz visitors into the school, and directs traffic into the school through the school office.
Some schools currently allow visitors direct access to classrooms and common areas before the visitors are required to enter the school office.
The subcommittee’s recommendation for such enhanced security entrances included Glenwood and Nolachuckey elementary schools, South Greene, West Greene and Chuckey-Doak high schools, and the T.H. McNeese Educa-tional Center.
Once safety entrances are in place, Brown said, the subcommittee’s next recommendation is for magnetic locks for the doors entering each school’s office and, if affordable, for the doors exiting each school’s office.
The purpose would be to make it pos-sible for the administrator to block off an aggressive visitor, he said.
ADDITIONAL EQUIPMENTThe subcommittee recommended
additional equipment for teachers and schools, including two-way radios with earbuds for private intercommunica-tion between teachers and administra-tors; working locks on every classroom door; and remotely accessible camera systems in every school.
Use of two-way radios is already in place at DeBusk Elementary School.
At the January 2013 meeting, Com-missioner Fred Malone asked Kirk to offer her opinion on having teachers and principals carry firearms rath-er than placing armed guards in the schools.
Kirk agreed that the system could ask teachers and administrators to do that if they are willing, and if they hold a private-carry gun permit, but added she doesn’t believe it is possible to com-pel them to share that information.
Kirk said that she is “not in favor” of arming these individuals, and cited two reasons:
• that doing so would involve a divi-sion of those teachers’ and administra-tors’ duties, and
• the lack of training on the part of teachers and administrators to act as law enforcement officers.
She said that the school system is working with the Greene County Sher-iff’s Department to secure the schools in other ways, such as installing work-ing locks and safety entrances.
“There are certain ways that we need to secure the schools in a practical way,” Kirk said.
“For me, that is higher on the priority list than armed guards. But we would certainly consider it should the state decide to do it.”
SCHOOL BUS SAFETYThe issue of student safety on school
buses was raised after two incidents in 2012, one involving a Greene County School System student who died after being run over by a bus.
Austin Lee Baughard, 12, a seventh-grader at Chuckey-Doak Middle School, was struck and killed in front of his Holder Road home on April 12, 2012, as the bus began its morning rounds.
In October 2012, the Tennessee High-way Patrol announced that no charges would be filed in connection with the accident.
It was still dark when the bus struck Baughard, who had been suspended from riding the bus the week the inci-dent occurred, school system officials said.
Bus driver Ronnie Whitson continues to work for the school system in a non-driving capacity, school officials said in mid-March.
INVESTIGATION ‘CLOSED’“The investigation into the April 12
fatal bus crash in Greene County is closed. After consultation with the dis-trict attorney’s office, no charges will be filed,” THP spokeswoman Dalya Qualls said.
Third Judicial District Attorney Gen-eral Berkeley Bell said in October that the case will be reviewed in “the near future” by a Greene County grand jury.
That had not happened as of mid-March of this year.
“The [THP is] not going to file any charges, but we will submit the action to the grand jury for further determi-nation,” Bell said.
All violent death investigations go before a grand jury as a matter of pro-cedure, Bell said.
“I expect the [THP closing the inves-tigation] will be the determining factor, but it gives them the opportunity to kind of look over our shoulder,” Bell said.
Kirk was not surprised by the THP decision to close the investigation.
“From the beginning, they have told me they did not anticipate charges, so I am not surprised by this outcome,” she said.
“While we are very glad there are no
charges, it remains a very sad event for all of us.”
SAFETY EMPHASISAll county school district bus drivers
met in May 2012 with the THP about safety issues. The THP coordinated with school officials to hold additional safety training sessions, Kirk said after the fatality.
Kirk also emphasized “the need for continued communication about bus safety.”
“We will keep this at the forefront. It’s a very important issue. It always has been,” she said last year.
“We are working on ways to make sure students understand they have to follow the safety rules.”
CRASH IN WASHINGTON CO.Brenda Gray, who was behind the
wheel on Sept. 20, 2012, when a bus filled with 39 David Crockett High School students rolled over and crashed on Mount Wesley Road, remains free on bond as her case moves forward in Washington County Criminal Court.
Gray, 54 at the time of the crash, is charged with 39 counts of reckless aggravated assault.
The Jonesborough resident entered a not guilty plea to the charges on March 1 in Washington County Crimi-nal Court.
In addition to the felony counts of reckless aggravated assault, Gray was also indicted by a Washington County Grand Jury on single counts of reckless endangerment and speeding.
The wreck resulted in injuries requir-ing hospitalization for at least 26 of the 39 students on board.
Tennessee Highway Patrol investiga-tors who testified at Gray’s preliminary hearing after the wreck said that the school bus was traveling at a speed of between 52 and 60 mph when Gray lost control and the bus overturned.
The bus was traveling nearly twice the posted speed limit on the two-lane, winding road in Telford, investigators said. The speed limit on the road is 30 mph.
Just before the bus topped a hill, Gray “asked if we wanted to lose our stomachs before we go over the hill,” a 14-year-old passenger testified at the hearing.
STUDENTS TO BE COMPENSATEDJohnson City lawyer J. Eddie Laud-
erback was appointed in February by a circuit court judge to oversee disburse-ment of $700,000 in insurance funds to students injured in the bus crash.
The Washington County School Sys-tem accepted responsibility after the crash for the students’ injuries. State law caps a government agency’s liabil-ity to $700,000 per incident.
The funds have been deposited to the Circuit Court Clerk’s Office by the school system’s insurance company, Tennessee Risk Management Trust.
SafetyStarts on Page 18
BRENDA GRAYCHARGED IN CRASH
SUN PHOTO BY KEN LITTLESchool officials and law enforcement authorities reacted swiftly on Feb. 13, 2013, when a suspicious man who may have been armed was reported walking in the area of Greeneville Middle School and Hal Henard Elementary School. Both schools were locked down until investigation determined that the report was unfounded.
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Lately it seems you can’t read the paper or watch TV without hearing another story about someone in an important position falling asleep on the job. Recently, the buzz has been about a rash of incidents involving air traffi c controllers (including one in Knoxville). For those of us who fl y, these stories are concerning to say the least.
In reality though, these stories are just the tip of a huge iceberg. Stories like this are highly visible and news worthy. However, lurking just under the surface, and certainly not headline worthy, is a huge population of people suff ering from the same condition.
Th e increase in obesity, long works hours, and poor sleep habits is spiraling our country into an epidemic of sleep related disorders. Th ese disorders range from poor sleep hygiene, which is common in adolescents and teenagers, to sleep apnea, predominantly seen in adults. Th e average American’s sleep disorder may not be news worthy but it has consequences nonetheless. Th e most common symptoms for sleep disorders are excessive daytime sleepiness, irritability, lack of concentration, morning headaches, and loud snoring. Additionally, many patients stop breathing numerous times during the night and sometimes awake gasping for air.
Many people have accepted poor sleep as a “norm” but few realize the long term implications. Poor or inadequate sleep places stress on the cardiovascular system and, left untreated, can increase the risk of stroke, high blood pressure, and heart disease. Patients who already have high blood pressure, heart disease, or diabetes are at an even greater risk. Aside from these medical issues you can add poor job/school performance, slowed refl exes, reduced energy levels, tiredness despite adequate sleep, and increased risk of accidents.
Th e bottom line is, whether you’re landing a jet or driving to work, if you want to be at your best, you need quality sleep and plenty of it.
If you have some of the symptoms listed above, talk to your family physician or contact the Sleep Center at LMH for more information.
www.greenevillesun.com20 THE GREENEVILLE SUN BENCHMARKS EDITION Saturday, March 23, 2013
Are you getting Are you getting your Zyour ZZZZZZsZs??
