News 2016

February 23rd—February 29—Part One of the state achievement testing in Cannon County Schools
 
February 24th—WBRY Spotlight—Woodbury Grammar is the school of focus.
 
March 1st—Election Day—No school for students or teachers
 
March 3rd-4th-5th—B-team Tournament at Auburn School
 
March 3—Leadership Academy, 3:00 p.m., Central Office
March 4—End of grading period
March 7—Special Ed. Legal Conference, Jackson, TN
March 8—Report cards go home
March 8—New Teachers’ meeting, 3:00 p.m., Central Office
March 8—School Board meeting workshop, 6:30 p.m., Central Office

The turnover bug that has plagued the Cannon County Lionettes all this season struck once again and this time played a huge part in ending their basketball season.  Friday afternoon the girls basketball team traveled to Tennessee Tech University to open the second day of the District 8-AA basketball tournament against the third seeded Smith County Lady Owls.  The Lionettes welcomed back Kellie Davis who missed most of the second half of the season with a hand injury.  Davis helped Cannon get out to a small lead in the first quarter.  Smith County found success with their post play and led by three at half.  Then the Lionettes who committed 9 turnovers in the first half alone threw the ball away 9 more times in the third quarter.  Smith County built a 7 point lead but struggled from the field in the fourth quarter as Cannon trimmed the lead down to one before throwing the ball away 5 more times.  Smith County was able to escape with free throws down the stretch to win the game 44-41.  Maleah Scott scored 14 in the loss.  Cannon ends their season with a 10-20 overall record.

The Cannon County Lionettes basketball team will take center stage this afternoon at the Hooper Eblen Center at Tennessee Tech to kick off day 2 of the District 8-AA tournament in Cookeville.  The Lionettes finished the regular season 10-19 and 4-10 in District play.  Currently the Lionettes are on a 7 game losing streak and the team knows it has to win
tonight or their season is finished.  Their opponent the Smith County Lady Owls finished third in the district with a 10-4 District record 17-10 overall.  Two of those wins were against the Lionettes 61-40 in Carthage and 46-37 in Woodbury.  The game starts at 4:00 this afternoon and will be broadcast live on AM-1540/ FM107.9 WBRY and streaming live on wbry.com
 

A Cannon County man recently got caught shoplifting and as a result police found out he had a warrants out in Cannon County for his arrest.  According to Murfreesboro Police Reports,  Police were dispatched out to one of the newer Walmarts that was located on Joe B Jackson Parkway.  Upon arrival they made contact, with a man who identified himself as Mr. John Vergile Lee Hill.  After questioning the suspect further, he changed his story and gave police his real name Jeffery Nelson Alexander of Petty Gap Road in Woodbury.  A warrants check came back that he had a warrant out of Warren County and one in Cannon County currently out on him.  Loss prevention associate stated that Alexander concealed items totaling slightly over just $34.00 before attempting to leave the store.  He was arrested and charged with theft under $500 and criminal impersonation.  Alexander will answer to the charges in Rutherford County General Sessions Court On April 14th.

The Cannon County Lions Boys Basketball season came to a close with a 69-62 loss to the Smith County Owls during the quarterfinal round of the District 8-AA basketball tournament at the Hooper Eblen Center on the campus of Tennessee Tech.  The Lions started off the game with a 17-11 end of first quarter lead but Smith turned up the defensive pressure and caused 6 Lion turnovers all of which the Owls were able to convert to points as Cannon was outscored 30-11 in the second period.  The Lions were able to cut the lead to one in the fourth but Smith was able to force three cruical turnovers in the fourth quarter and produce points off those turnovers to win by seven. Austin Martin led all Lions with 23 points.   Cannon finishes the 2015-2016 season with 10 wins and 21 losses.

The Woodbury Police Department and the Cannon County Sheriff’s Department will be partnering with the Tennessee Governor’s Highway Safety Office for the 2016 Seatbelts Are For Everyone (SAFE) campaign.  The SAFE campaign is designed to increase seat belt and child passenger safety restraint usage in Tennessee.  Law enforcement agencies participate in the campaign by planning and implementing occupant protection initiatives in their communities.
Chief Woman stated that officers and deputies will be aggressively searching for driver and passengers in vehicles that are not wearing their seatbelts and that are not using child restraints.  
This is the third year that the Governor’s Highway Safety Office has sponsored this campaign.  Last year yielded the following results:
2,470 child restraint violations, 33,879 seat belt citations and 671 other seat belt enforcement activities.
“Last year our statewide seat belt use dropped slightly to 86.6%” said Governor’s Highway Safety Office Director Kendell Poole.  “It is vitally important that all drivers and passengers buckle up every trip, every time.  Our ultimate goal is that this campaign, combined with the increase of the seat belt fine, will increase our usage rate to ninety percent or higher.”
This year, participating agencies will pay special attention to nighttime seat belt enforcement.  
Tennessee has seen a disproportionate percentage of unrestrained fatalities between the hours of 6:00 p.m. and 5:59 a.m.  Historically, approximately 50 percent of Tennessee’s traffic fatalities are unbelted.
That percentage increases to nearly sixty when nighttime crashes are examined.
The SAFE campaign will go through August 1st.  Agencies participating in the voluntary campaign become eligible to win one of two fully-equipped police vehicles at the Tennessee Law Enforcement Challenge ceremony in September.

Basketball fans were treated to a great set of games Tuesday night as the play in games of the District 8-AA tournament. Macon County girls move on to the next round after the Tigerettes beat Central Magnet on a shot with 5 seconds left and the Cannon County Lions Boys went toe to toe with the Dekalb County Tigers winning on free throws in overtime. Tonight the official quarterfinal round will get underway as the Cannon County Lions travel back to Hooper Eblen Center on the campus of Tennessee Tech University in Cookeville to face the Smith County Owls. The Owls will make their postseason debut on the college floor with a 11-3 district record. Cannon lost both games in the regular season but the last game in January the Lions lost by only 3. Tonight’s game will be broadcast live on AM-1540/FM107.9 WBRY. You can also hear the game streaming live through the website at wbry.com. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam today announced he would seek additional flexibility for teachers as the state continues its transition to the TNReady student assessment.

Under the proposal, teachers would have the choice to include or not to include student results from the 2015-2016 TNReady assessment in his or her evaluation score, which typically consists of multiple years of data. The proposal keeps student learning and accountability as factors in an educator’s evaluation while giving teachers the option to include this year’s results if the results benefit them. The governor will work with the General Assembly on specific language and a plan to move the proposal through the legislative process.

“Tennessee students are showing historic progress. The state made adjustments to teacher evaluation and accountability last year to account for the transition to an improved assessment fully aligned with Tennessee standards, which we know has involved a tremendous amount of work on the part of our educators,” Haslam said. “Given recent, unexpected changes in the administration of the new assessment, we want to provide teachers with additional flexibility for this first year’s data.”

Tennessee has led the nation with a teacher evaluation model that has played a vital role in the state’s unprecedented progress in education. Tennessee students are the fastest improving students in the country since 2011. The state’s graduation rate has increased three years in a row, standing at 88 percent. Since 2011, 131,000 more students are on grade-level in math and nearly 60,000 more on grade-level in science.

The plan builds upon the Teaching Evaluation Enhancement Act proposed by the governor and approved by the General Assembly last year. This year is the first administration of TNReady, which is fully aligned with the state’s college and career readiness benchmarks.

“Providing teachers with the flexibility to exclude first-year TNReady data from their growth score over the course of this transition will both directly address many concerns we have heard and strengthen our partnership with educators while we move forward with a new assessment,” Department of Education Commissioner Candice McQueen said. “Regardless of the test medium, TNReady will measure skills that the real world will require of our students.”

Most educator evaluations have three main components: qualitative data, which includes principal observations and always counts for at least half of an educator’s evaluation; a student achievement measure that the educator chooses; and a student growth score, which usually comprises 35 percent of the overall evaluation.

A Cannon County man wanted in Lincoln County for violation of probation recently was arrested after Deputies found him in a car parked in a driveway that belonged to a person involved in numerous domestic violence calls.  According to Cannon County Sheriff’s Department Reports Deputies observed a vehicle parked in the driveway of a Judge Purser Hill Road residence with the lights on.  Deputies have been at this residence numerous times with the male subject involved always leaving the scene before police get there.  Deputies stopped to check the welfare of the resident and made contact with Brian Rogers who was a passenger in the vehicle.  Rogers stated that he was just kicked out of the residence and was about to leave.  Deputies checked for warrants and was advised that he had an active warrant from Lincoln County for violation of probation.  Bond Set at $2500.  Lincoln County asked that he be arrested with a hold.  Rogers was transported to the  Cannon County Sheriff’s Office where he awaited transport to Lincoln County.
 

Rutherford County Sheriff Robert Arnold might be putting some of the blame of a drive by shooting at his residence on pop star Beyonce
 Sheriff  Arnold and his family were home Monday night when the shots rang out, and shell casings were found nearby.  Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Arnold referenced Beyonce’s latest music video and her halftime performance at the Super Bowl, which many perceived to reference the Black Panthers and Malcolm X.  Arnold said several officers have been shot since her performance, saying he thinks it may have helped place “another target on law enforcement.”  
Sheriff Arnold said in a statement issued after the press conference “My comments reflect the violence and senseless killing of seven deputies in the U.S. since the show aired. My comments are an observation of the violence that has occurred but in no way is meant to offend anyone.”
Here is a statement from the National Sheriff’s Association that Sheriff Arnold relied on to make his comments.
The senseless killing of four law enforcement officers just this week – on the heels of the anti-police “entertainment” at the Sunday Super Bowl halftime show – reminds us that the men and women in law enforcement take a solemn oath that includes putting their lives on the line every day to protect our citizens. The case of the drive by shooting Monday night is still under investigation.