Early Voting Successfully Underway in DeKalb County

July 17, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

After months of planning, the first day of early voting for the Aug. 6. State and Federal Primary and County General election is off to a safe and secure start in DeKalb County.

“Our staff has been working diligently to prepare for this election. We have ensured our polling locations have room for social distancing and have taken other measures to protect voters and poll officials.” said Dennis Stanley, DeKalb County Administrator of Elections. “It is great to see all of our plans in action and I encourage voters to take advantage of early voting to skip Election Day lines.”

The voting total of 190 includes today’s in-person turnout of 76 and absentee ballots cast to date. Of the 190 number, 96 cast ballots in the Tennessee Democratic Primary, 88 in the Tennessee Republican Primary, and 6 voted only in the DeKalb County General Election without voting in either state primary.

The City of Smithville vote stands at 19 including in-person and absentee ballots cast through today (Friday) but does not include property rights voters.

Early voting started today (Friday, July 17) and runs Monday to Saturday until Saturday, Aug. 1. Election Day is Thursday, Aug. 6.

Hours for early voting are Mondays 1-5 p.m.; Tuesdays 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Wednesdays 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Thursdays 2-6 p.m.; Fridays 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.; and Saturdays 9 a.m. to 12 noon. Election day voting at all 15 precincts will be from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Thursday, August 6.
Early voting allows DeKalb County voters to avoid Election Day crowds and the flexibility of afternoon and Saturday hours.

Voters are encouraged to do their part during early voting and on Election Day. This includes wearing a face covering and maintaining a six-foot distance from poll officials and others. Voters should expect to see signs with further safety instructions at their polling locations. All poll officials will be wearing face coverings and will be trained to take appropriate protective measures.

“I commend all of the election commissions across the state who have been preparing for months for this election,” said Secretary of State Tre Hargett. “It’s encouraging to see voters safely taking advantage of Tennessee’s generous early voting period.”

The easiest way for voters to find early voting and Election Day voting locations, view and mark sample ballots and much more is by downloading the GoVoteTN app or by visiting GoVoteTN.com. Download the GoVoteTN app for free in the App Store or Google Play.

Tennesseans voting early or on Election Day should remember to bring valid photo identification to the polls. A driver’s license or photo ID issued by the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security, by Tennessee state government or by the federal government are acceptable even if they are expired. College student IDs are not acceptable.

For more information about early voting in DeKalb County visit www.dekalbelections.com.

July 17, 2020
By:

The DeKalb Middle School Jr Beta Team has pulled out a win yet again as they continue a 4 year top 5 national streak.

The award winning team, which placed 2nd in the Tennessee State convention in November, was getting ready to go to nationals this year in Texas when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Because of health concerns the National convention was canceled and a virtual Beta Convention was created.

This years theme for DMS Beta was “Speak Life”! “When I was writing this skit I had no idea what was going to happen in our country. This theme was very fitting for us all” said Josh Issac.

Issac and Lori Hendrix, the Beta sponsors for the DMS club, said they are so proud of each one of the students who competed this year. With a mixture of dance, human video, spoken word, readers theater, and singing this skit made the top 10 and went on to win 3rd in the nation.

“We see how these skits bring unity and develop talents for students to use for years to come,” said Issac.

DMS would like to thank all of those who have supported them in all the fundraising and coming to performances. Next year they plan on making it to Nationals for a 5th year in a row which will be held in Orlando Florida .

July 16, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

What impact will the rising numbers of COVID-19 cases have on the scheduled start of school in DeKalb County on August 3?

Director of Schools Patrick Cripps and Attendance Supervisor Joey Reeder appeared on WJLE Thursday morning to address this question and many others.

If you missed the program or would like to hear it again click the link below

https://www.wjle.com/reopening-dekalb-county-schools

Although plans are for a traditional reopening of DeKalb County schools with students attending on campus August 3 parents may opt for remote learning from home for their children. Parents are asked to contact their child’s school weekdays from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. prior to July 22 if they want their child to participate in remote learning.

Cripps and Reeder took many call-in questions from listeners for almost 90 minutes during the LIVE radio program as they discussed the frameworks and protocols for the planned reopening.

Currently the number of COVID-19 cases in DeKalb County total 128 with 67 active as of Thursday, July 16. That is more cases than when schools were closed due to COVID in March.

Cripps and Reeder were asked what would be the COVID number to keep schools from reopening or having to close again

“We are not getting any guidance as far as when we need to shutdown from the state department. Our understanding is that it’s going to be up to individual school districts at this point,” said Director Cripps.

“Right now we are not determining the timeline or the numbers. The virus will determine when we close. We look at it a lot like the flu. We have closed schools several times the past few years because of the flu and its not always the number you have its what the trend is. Are the numbers still going up or are they coming down? The only (COVID) numbers we will probably have are community numbers in making our decision and that is an important factor. We probably won’t have school (COVID) numbers unless parents call us and say my child has tested positive for COVID because we won’t have names of kids with the virus and we are not going to close schools just because a few people on facebook say somebody has COVID. We must have confirmation from parents that their child has the virus. The bottom line is we can’t sit here and say we will close if we get five or ten cases in the schools. We can handle a case in an elementary school probably much better than at the high school because those children are self contained and we can shut that room down for two weeks and tell everybody to stay home and continue with the rest of the school (being open). That may or may not happen but it is a possibility. We can close district-wide or we can close one school or one classroom. The state has given us a lot of options but not a lot of help,” said Reeder.

Director Cripps is also appealing to parents for help.

“In the mornings we are asking parents to check their child’s temperature before sending or bringing them to school because if the child’s temperature is over 100.4 we ask that you keep that child at home. I know the first thing parents tend to want to do is give the child some Tylenol and see if he or she can make it through the day at school but please keep the child at home if he or she has a fever. We will work with parents on student attendance. We know we are going to have to be flexible and we want to work with families in this process but to keep students, faculty, staff, and bus drivers safe, please keep your child home if he or she is exhibiting any COVID symptoms because that is the great thing about our plans to provide every student a 1:1 device. With that computer, your child can still log on to that classroom for that day and still get their education,” said Director Cripps.

One caller asked if she could re-evaluate sending her child back to school later after opting for remote learning to begin the school year.

“What we would like to do is do it (re-evaluate) at grading periods like every nine weeks or every semester. If they are allowed to go in and out too often it would be cumbersome for everyone involved but we will always work with anybody because we know situations change. There may be a situation where a family may choose to start out with remote learning for their child but if they (family member) later gets a job or for some other reason and don’t have anybody to stay with that child at home we will be flexible and work with you. We are here to educate and be accessible to you,” said Director Cripps.

Remote learning will be somewhat different than what parents and students experienced during the spring.

“Students will be given a schedule just like they were going to school in-house. The expectations are for them to get on their computer. They will be following that schedule throughout the day with their peers so there is an accountability. The state says we will educate six and a half hours per day and students will participate. They (state) want us to document how our school day is run and that is important because that is how we get our funding according to how many hours a day we put in, how many days we go and how many students attend,” added Director Cripps.