Senator Pody Votes for Parental Choice Bill

April 29, 2019
By: Dwayne Page

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee on Thursday declared it was a “historic day” after the Republican’s parental choice bill advanced out of the Senate.

The proposal — known as education savings accounts — supported by Governor Lee would allow families to use up to $7,300 in state funds to spend on private school tuition and other approved expenses. Families in qualifying schools districts would have to meet certain income levels to receive the funds.

The Senate’s version, which passed 20-13, conflicts with what House members narrowly passed earlier by just one vote. That means the two chambers will form a joint “conference committee” to seek a solution.

State Senator Mark Pody voted in favor of the legislation which applies only to Metro Nashville-Davidson County and Memphis-Shelby County  and would require the Department of Education to verify the income of parents participating in the program.

The House version includes having parents to verify their immigration status — a requirement that raised legal concerns and objections from Senate members — and would currently apply to the state’s top four most populated counties.

“This is an extremely small bill,” said Senator Pody. “It only focuses on 5,000 students in a couple of counties, Shelby and Davidson. They have some failing schools there so  it gives those counties choices of where they want their kids to go to school, whether it be to continue in a different public school or to transfer out of their school into a charter school or private school. The Governor said he would set aside an additional $7,300 per student who would like to do that so they could go a school of their choice.  Public education will continue to get its money whether that child is there or not so it doesn’t hurt public education in that way,” he said.

Senator Pody said he will support the concept as long as it is shown to work.

“If this program doesn’t work and doesn’t help the kids we don’t need to keep doing it but I think it’s time we give these parents and kids a shot to at least look at alternatives to some schools that have not been working. For example, in Shelby County, we’re paying almost $20,000 per student which is almost 40% more than we pay for the kids in our own county here so we have given a lot of extra money there (Shelby County) to help some of the public education schools but it’s just not working. It’s time to find an alternative,” he added.

“There are some things I am concerned about and one is I would like to see some stronger protections about potential fraud. I don’t want someone taking that money and using it to buy non educational things and not being held accountable for it and I want to make sure that we have proof it is working if it is to be expanded,” said Senator Pody.

April 28, 2019
By: Dwayne Page

Many people cleaned out their medicine cabinets of unwanted, out of date, or no longer needed prescriptions and brought them to the Smithville and Alexandria city halls for disposal Saturday during the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day.

Lisa Cripps, local Coordinator of the DeKalb Prevention Coalition, said 65.2 pounds of prescription drugs and controlled substances were collected for disposal Saturday at Smithville and Alexandria.

“Thank you DeKalb County for another successful drug Take-Back. We had a total of 8.6 pounds of controlled substances and 56.6 pounds of other medications, making our overall take back at 65.2 pounds,” said Cripps.

The event was sponsored by the DeKalb Prevention Coalition and supported by the DeKalb County Health Department, DeKalb County Coordinated School Health, and local law enforcement officers and constables.

“Take-Back Days in April and October each year are a safe and easy way to protect your loved ones and to get these drugs out of your home,” added Cripps.

“The reason we do this is because we have found when we work with recovery groups is that a lot of their abuse of medications started from them taking it out of their grandparents’ house or their own medicine cabinets,” said Cripps.

“We advocate Count It, Lock It, Drop It. Count your medications and keep them locked up. Today in Smithville and Alexandria we gave away lock boxes and you can come by the coalition office at the county complex and pick one up. They are free. You can lock up your medications in these lock boxes,” added Cripps.

“Remember that if your medications are unused, out of date or unwanted you can drop them off in one of our local drop boxes. If you missed Saturday’s take-back event,  the county has drop boxes at the City Hall in Alexandria and City Hall in Smithville that are open Monday through Friday each week”.

“We thank the people of Alexandria. The city has allowed us to set up here at city hall and the police department has been a great help to us today to monitor this. We also want to thank our health department for partnering with us because they handle all the medications. As the DeKalb Prevention Coalition Coordinator I hand out the surveys and the lock boxes. Thanks to the DeKalb County Coordinated School Health program. Coordinator Elise Driver provided a healthy snack of fresh berries this year to the participants. Thanks to all of our participants. We’ll see you again in October,” said Cripps

April 27, 2019
By: Dwayne Page

Seven teams from at least four counties competed today (Saturday) in the second annual Officer Joe Bowen Memorial Men’s Softball Tournament at the Alexandria ball field.

This double elimination tournament featured teams from DeKalb, Putnam, Warren, and Wilson Counties and all of the proceeds will support a scholarship for a 2019 DeKalb County High School student athlete in honor of Joe.

Officer Bowen lost his life in a traffic accident at Dowelltown in March 2018 while on his way home from work. A resident of Smithville, Officer Bowen worked for the Lebanon Police Department.

“We did this last year and all proceeds went to the Bowen family. We plan to do this every year but starting this year and going forward the proceeds will go to the scholarship fund. We appreciate everybody who has come out for the tournament and those who have donated,” said tournament spokesman Chris McMillen.

“This means a lot to our family. We appreciate everybody coming out in honor of Joe,” said Officer Bowen’s father Dwayne Bowen.

“He loved ball and this is a good way to honor him. Some of his teammates are playing today in honor of him,” added Lisa Bowen, Joe’s mother.

“You’ll notice the man (softball player) shown on our jerseys. That is actually an image of Joe Bowen himself and we named our team today “Badge 16” in his honor,” said McMillen.