Monday, September 14th

The Cleveland Daily Banner- Lee University’s fall enrollment was boosted by a “strong upsurge” of incoming freshmen, closing registration last week with an overall enrollment of 5,041 students. Freshman enrollment is up 10 percent over last year, according to Phil Cook, vice president for enrollment. Some 835 full-time freshmen signed up for classes this fall, compared to 756 last year. Along with the growth, this year’s freshman class is also the most academically talented in Lee’s history, Cook said, with the average ACT score moving above 24 to a record high. The average for all high school students in Tennessee this year is 19.8. Cook explained the total enrollment of 5,041 includes “about a thousand” students who take courses in various types of nontraditional ways, including an online Division of Adult Learning, the popular Encore program for senior citizens, and dual enrollment classes for local high school students. Some 108 students are studying in one of Lee’s three international sites in Germany, Ecuador and Guatemala. Lee maintains 17 on-campus dorms with 2,000 beds, Cook said. “Once again, we are maxed out in our female housing, and our overall dormitory occupancy rate is over 97 percent, which is our target rate.” Cook explained a few students who were temporarily housed in a local hotel during registration and the first week of classes have now all been moved into dorms. Lee’s student population now includes 58 percent female and 42 percent male students. Students are at Lee this fall from 49 states (only Utah is missing), with Tennessee the leading state by a wide margin. Some 226 students come from outside the U.S., with Nigeria the most common country of origin. The Chattanoogan- Bradley County Patrol and Criminal Investigations Division officers are on the lookout for Lonnie James Wilson, 19, of Cleveland. Wilson is alleged to have engaged in a physical confrontation with Kevin Lee Beyer, 58, also of Cleveland, leading to injury to Mr. Beyer. No weapons were involved in the alleged assault, reports indicate. Mr. Beyer was flown to Erlanger Medical Center via Lifeforce for treatment of possibly broken ribs. Wilson has been charged with a count of aggravated assault in the case. Warrants for his arrest are on file. The Cleveland Daily Banner- The car owned by a Cleveland police officer and reported as stolen was discovered burned across the state line in Georgia the night before the report was made. CPD?Officer Edwin Millan, 36, of Inman Street reported on May 17 his personal vehicle, a 2011 Chrysler 300 with a value of $25,000, had been stolen. He since has been placed on administrative leave with pay, following a criminal investigation surrounding his stolen vehicle. The Cleveland Daily Banner- Officials with Bradley?County Schools say students are on track to be ready for the new TNReady tests. These new tests for third through 11th-grade students will this school year replace the existing Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program —?or TCAP?— tests students have been taking for years. Director of Schools Dr. Linda Cash said schools in Tennessee have basically been preparing for the new tests for five years — ever since the introduction of the Common Core state standards. She explained teachers have already done the “base work”?of aligning their teaching to the standards, and the biggest concern is making sure students get the chance to study for and practice taking the new test. Cleveland Director of Schools Dr. Martin Ringstaff and Supervisor of Curriculum and Instruction Jeff Elliott said they are excited about what this means for Cleveland students and teachers. “You’ll see good things come out of this,” they emphasized. They say it’s a new way to assess what students know, and what can be done to help them succeed in the future. In making the change to TNReady this year, the state points out that today in college and technical schools, and in most jobs, communicating is done electronically. They recognize this is currently the way of the world. TNReady will be taken online, the tests will be more engaging, and should be a better process of matching individual needs. The experts claim TNReady gives students a variety of new ways to show what they can do. This process begins Oct. 1 with the “Break the MIST Day,” where the state will be assessing individual school systems with a practice test. The Times Free Press- CLEVELAND, Tenn. — The 10th Judicial District Attorney’s Office has filed a petition in the Chancery Court of Bradley County against the owners of Sunset Memorial Gardens for contempt in an effort to enforce a consent decree issued in January. The petition states that Cecil Lawrence Inc. of Dallas, Ga., the company that owns Sunset Memorial Gardens on North Lee Highway, has not complied with several mandates in the consent order, including failure to maintain a complaint procedure for identifying written or telephoned complaints and failure to respond and correct identified problems within its mausoleum or grounds in a reasonable time. “The District Attorney’s Office has received many complaints about Sunset Memorial Gardens,” District Attorney Steve Crump said. The cemetery faces possible suspension of its license and its owners were given 30 days to hire a mausoleum expert and submit a corrective plan of action after an informal hearing with the Department of Commerce and Insurance on Aug. 21. Cecil Lawrence Inc. representatives have not responded to requests for comment. Press Release- Lee University took a big jump upward in the 2016 college rankings which were released by U.S. News & World Report Wednesday. The popular guide once again ranked Lee in the “Top Tier” of master’s level universities in the South. In its category, Lee was ranked #46, up eleven places from its placement a year ago. Also ranked with Lee in this category were other nearby schools such as Tennessee Tech (#35), UT-Chattanooga (#58), and Kennesaw State (#71). “It surely is gratifying to see our stock rise,” said Lee president Dr. Paul Conn. “As skeptical as all college presidents are about the validity of these rankings, we pay close attention, as so many people in the general public do.” Lee scored big in two special rankings also. In a category called “Best Values: Great Schools at Great Prices”, Lee was named among only 15 schools from the South region which are exceptional for combining high quality with low cost. In another featured listing, called “A+ Schools for B Students”, Lee was listed along with 22 other schools in the South, including such schools as Samford University and Appalachian State University. Now in its 31st year, the U.S. News & World Report continues to be the nation’s most closely watched college ranking. The magazine reviewed nearly 1,600 colleges and universities nationwide for the 2016 annual issue. It ranked Princeton as America’s top university, followed by Harvard and Yale.