Smithville Elementary Accelerated Reader Winners

May 18, 2021
By:

Throughout the school year, Smithville Elementary students participate in the Accelerated Reader, or AR, program. AR is a computer program that tests students after they read a book of their choice. Children pick a book at their own reading level and read at their own pace. When finished, the child takes a short quiz on the computer. Students earn points for each quiz that is passed, and there are 3 levels of prizes they can earn throughout the year based on the number of AR points they earn.

This year, Smithville Elementary students took a total of 4,770 AR quizzes, and read 3,061,045 words! Throughout the year students were awarded various prizes for earning points, and there were also drawings each month for prizes for students who made a 100 on a quiz that month.

There were 21 students who earned the top level 3 prize, and the top two highest AR point earners in the school earned the opportunity to spend the day as Principal and Assistant Principal. Caroline Farmer, from Mrs. Bethany Rigsby’s 2nd grade, spent a day as Principal for earning the most AR points this year. Braxton Poss, a student in Mrs. Janet Trapp’s class, was the second highest point earner and he served as the Assistant Principal for a day. We are very proud of all of our students for their hard work on the AR program this year.

May 18, 2021
By: Dwayne Page

The DCHS Tiger baseball team held off a rally from Sequatchie County to win 4 to 3 Monday night at Dunlap in the Semi-Finals of the Region 4AA Tournament.

The Tigers have now punched their ticket to the Region 4AA Tournament Championship game at Watertown Wednesday night, May 19 at 6 p.m.

WJLE plans LIVE coverage.

The Monday night game was scoreless until the Tigers broke through with two runs in the top of the fifth inning and then added two more runs in the seventh. The Indians scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh but their rally fell short as the Tigers hung on for the win.

Tiger pitcher Patrick Cantrell got the win. He gave up one hit and struck out five through seven and a third innings. Isaac Knowles came in for the save. He struck out two to close out the game.

Wednesday night’s game will be the fourth meeting between DeKalb County and Watertown this season.

The Tigers, the regular season District Champs, won both games during the regular season including a 7 to 6 victory at home on April 12 and a 2 to 1 win at Watertown on April 13. DC lost to the Purple Tigers 8 to 3 in the District Tournament Championship game at home on May 12.

DeKalb County is 16-11-1 while Watertown is 25-5

May 18, 2021
By: Dwayne Page

The departure of Principal Randy Jennings and Assistant Principal David Gash is creating two vacancies among the administration staff at DeKalb County High School which will have to be filled soon.

Director of Schools Patrick Cripps, who gets to hire their successors, is currently conducting interviews and plans to fill the positions within a month.

Although all jobs in the school system are important, Director Cripps said the high school principal position comes with more responsibilities than most and the person hired must be a good fit for the school.

“Working at the high school as an administrator is a different animal. It is time demanding during the day and after school too with ballgames, banquets, and many other events. There is something going on all the time which takes the principal away from his or her family. The principal is always on call, “ said Director Cripps.

“Its important we find someone who is a visionary. One who is bought into DeKalb County High School and not a fly by night waiting for the next best thing (job) to come along. One who thinks outside the box and is not content with the status quo. But at the same time, he or she (new principal) can’t make wholesale changes all at once. My advice would be for the next principal to pick one thing to work on for improvement and make sure it works well,” he said.

As for Jennings and Gash, Director Cripps said they will be hard to replace and he will miss them.

“We’re losing two good administrators. We were lucky to have them. Both Randy and David are good Christian men and family centered. They were always dedicated to their jobs because they love kids and in this business that is what it is all about. I appreciate everything they have done for this school system and I wish them nothing but the best”.

Cripps said his friendship with Jennings goes back to when they were just kids in Little League.

“The first time I met Randy he was 12 years old and I was 10 and in my first at bat he beamed me and it sent me to the emergency room. They thought it broke my arm. Still today I give him a hard time about that. Our lives have run parallel for a long time. We played high school ball together and he was like a big brother. When we became adults we both got into education as a career at the same time. We always had a bond. These days I guess you could say we are the ‘old dogs’ of the county as far as our years in administration. We have always been able to bounce ideas off each other. He is just a solid level headed guy and he will be sorely missed. After 21 years in administration at the elementary, middle, and high school levels, his experience will be hard to replace,” said Director Cripps.

Whoever succeeds Gash as Assistant Principal will also have big shoes to fill.

“I first got to work with David when I was Assistant Principal at the high school and he was a guidance counselor. David later moved up to Assistant Principal over discipline and I went on to become Principal before being named Director. When you work with someone as closely as we worked together it becomes more than just co-workers. David is a very special person to me. He is solid. David had a tough job. Decisions about discipline will usually make somebody mad but he always went by the facts he had in front of him and acted according to what he thought was right. With David it was always about counseling and teaching kids right from wrong. He was a steady force and he will be greatly missed,” said Director Cripps.