First Ever DeKalb Festival of Trees Set for December 3

November 9, 2018
By: Dwayne Page

The very 1st DeKalb Festival of Trees is set for December 3rd at the DeKalb Community Complex.

“ This event has taken on a life of its own,” said Director of Complex, Josh Issac. “ I had a goal of 21 trees but now we have over 40. The community has really rallied around this and I couldn’t be more excited,” he said.

The festival will kick off on Monday December 3rd from 5-9 pm. It’s a free event but all are asked to bring new toys to the event and place the toys under the trees they would like to win “ Tree of the Year”.

All toys will go to the DeKalb Foster Care system. “ What a great way to give back and show kids that Christmas is all about giving,” said Issac.  Also there will be FREE pictures with Santa and Mrs. Clause and refreshments. There are over 20 vendor booths expected at the event for Christmas shopping needs. With elves , reindeer , and over 40 trees this is truly an event that you can’t afford to miss. A special thanks to all busineses , churches, and organizations who have given time and money to decorate all the trees,” said Issac.

November 9, 2018
By: Dwayne Page

The Board of Education is moving forward on preliminary plans for a new Pre-K through 2nd grade school to replace Smithville Elementary.

During Thursday night’s regular monthly meeting at DeKalb West School, the Board of Education voted unanimously to hire Upland Design Group to proceed with a schematic design (site study) of the proposed school to be located next to Northside Elementary School. The cost of the design project is $40,000 to be funded from the Board of Education’s budget.

“This will involve some site studies and engineering, everything we need to have some answers for the funding body (county commission) for the pre-k through 2nd grade school so we can get started on that and not deviate from our schedule because we have worked on this (plan to build a new school) over a year and a half. We are anxious to get going and continue moving in a forward direction,” said School Board Chairman W.J. (Dub) Evins, III.

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By a vote of 8-6, the county commission last month tabled a motion to support the board in proceeding with preliminary work until members of the commission could meet in a workshop with the school board to discuss the project in more detail and possibly other school construction options.

Director of Schools Patrick Cripps said the board will be able to provide more details of the project and be in a better position to answer questions of the county commission by bringing in Upland Design to do this design.

“The first thing we will do is form a committee to lay out what we want in our pre-k through 2nd grade school. This committee will be made up of school board members, educators and administrators because they have worked with this age group (pre-k to 2nd grade) and know what the needs are,” said Director Cripps.

“Issues this committee will address include how large and what kind of infrastructure we want within the walls; classrooms, gym, multi-media rooms, things of that nature. We will determine what is going to meet our instructional designs and curriculum needs for our students. The committee will then meet with architects of Upland Design who will then start formulating a design of the school. They will actually go out and look at the land beside Northside Elementary and get the engineers involved to see if that design will fit on that property and whether the soil is good enough for construction and whether we will need to purchase more property. They will also have to get the Tennessee Department of Transportation involved because there are concerns about traffic flow and how we would direct traffic along in that area with another school. It will answer questions that the county commission has and It will answer questions for us as well,” added Director Cripps.

The study is expected to be completed within 60 days.

Under terms of the schematic agreement, “the Architect (Upland Design) will provide initial Programming and Schematic Design Services for a not to exceed cost of $40,000. The Architect will credit this cost to the overall 5% fee at the Design Development Phase billing. The credit is contingent upon no changes to the site location and the building program from the schematic design for subsequent phases”.

The Board of Education last month voted unanimously to make a recommendation to the county commission on a plan to build a new 98,000 square foot elementary school for up to 800 students in pre-kindergarten to 2nd grade to be built on the campus of Northside Elementary School.

The school board has taken more than a year arriving at this recommendation.

In September 2017, the Board of Education hired Upland Design Group for $19,500 to conduct a facilities study. Three months later Upland presented six options for the board to consider. The school board narrowed those options down to three by April and two by August before settling on the Pre-K through 2 plan. The estimated project cost is $19,464,500 but that figure does not include costs of site preparation or the purchase of additional land if needed.

In other business, the Board of Education has set the graduation date for the Class of 2019 as Friday, May 17 upon the recommendation of DCHS principal Randy Jennings.

In his personnel report to the board, Director Cripps announced that Elizabeth Lewis has been granted a leave of absence as requested and Lynus Martin has resigned.

DCHS Principal Randy Jennings announced that the high school will be going through the re-accreditation process with AdvancED in December.

“The process has already started of course but I would like to thank the parents, teachers, and students for the surveys. We had sent out the surveys and had a good number of those returned. They are used in the process. I would also like to thank Ms. (Jenny) Norris and the leadership team.
They have done a lot of work already and have a lot more to do of course,” said Jennings.

He also announced that the DCHS basketball season starts next week with home games against Pickett County Tuesday night (6 p.m.) and Van Buren County next Saturday (4 p.m.)

Jennings said a new security system is being installed at the high school.

“I would like to thank Mr. Cripps and the board for the installation of the new door locks at the high school. It should be up and running within a couple of weeks hopefully by after Thanksgiving. All the kids and the teachers will have a key fob. All the doors to all the school buildings on the campus will be locked but they will be able to access them with their key fob. I think that is a good step in securing our campus,” said Jennings.

Director Cripps also congratulated DeKalb West School for recently being named a Reward School by the Tennessee Department of Education for academic excellence.

“We just want to thank and congratulate you on being a Reward School but I want to also brag on all of our schools in the county because with the direction testing has taken and the obstacles and trials that our teachers and students have to face on an everyday basis and then when testing time comes around they have met that challenge and we are seeing growth in our county. I am so proud of our teachers and administrators and most definitely our students,” said Director Cripps.

November 9, 2018
By: Dwayne Page

The men and women who have put their lives on the line to protect our freedom will be honored in a special Veterans Day program Friday morning, November 9 at the DeKalb County Complex auditorium hosted by the American Legion Post #122. Veteran’s Day is Sunday, November 11.

The observance begins at 9:15 a.m. with patriotic music by Susan Hinton followed by a performance from the DCHS Chorus and Band at 9:30 a.m. then the presentation of colors by Boy Scout Troop #347. The DCHS Chorus will sing the National Anthem and a prayer will be offered by local minister Larry Green. Commander William Edmonds will make welcoming remarks and Judy Redmon, President of the Ladies’ Auxiliary will introduce the guest speaker, Richard Buford of the American Legion Department of Tennessee Post #46. After the program, the audience will gather at the Veterans Memorial Monument at the courthouse for placement of a wreath. Josh Moon will blow taps to close the program.

Any veteran that wants to ride or drive in the Veteran’s Day parade on Friday needs to be at the County Complex by 11:00 on Friday

A lunch for veterans and their families, band, and program participants will be provided by the Senior Citizens and Director Pam Redmon and American Legion Post #122.