Smithville Mayor and Aldermen to Meet

September 18, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

The Smithville Mayor and Aldermen will meet in special session Monday, September 21 at 5:30 p.m. at city hall.

The agenda is as follows:

Board action on resolutions to apply for certain city grants

A status report from the airport manager

Mayor’s appointment to fill a vacancy on  the Board of Zoning Appeals.

September 18, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

The DCHS Tigers will be hoping to get back in the win column tonight (Friday) as they travel to Grundy County.

(Click link below to hear WJLE’s Tiger Talk Program)

https://www.wjle.com/tiger-talk-september-18/

Kick-off is at 7 p.m. and WJLE will have LIVE coverage on AM 1480/FM 101.7 and LIVE streaming at www.wjle.com with the Voice of the Tigers John Pryor and Luke Willoughby.

DeKalb County is 1-3 while the Yellow Jackets at 0-3.

All four Tigers games this season have been close with losses to Warren County 30-24, 27-21 to Upperman, and 21 to 14 to Watertown all at home. Their only win so far was on the road at Stone Memorial 31-30 which was a region victory.

Grundy County’s losses have been to South Pittsburg 49-0, York Institute 6-3, and Bledsoe County 40-6.

Coach Steve Trapp, speaking on WJLE’s Tiger Talk program, said the close losses are disappointing but he is confident his team will bounce back this week.

“Again we lost another football game by one score last week. There are moments in every game we have lost where we did some things well but then there were moments that have bitten us. Offensively I thought we got off to a good start last week but we didn’t do anything productive offensively in the second half. Watertown was basically able to make three plays and those three plays cost us the victory but I thought we were running the ball very well. Our running backs ran extremely hard. It was the best they have run consistently from start to finish. They did a great job. We made some plays in the passing game. If you look at the numbers and stats we had the same amount of passes as we did runs. We were actually 50% on fourth down conversions but not as good on third down conversions. We just have to continue to make plays,” said Coach Trapp.

Although the Tigers may be viewed as the favorite in tonight’s game, Coach Trapp says his team cannot overlook the Yellow Jackets.

“Even though they have not won a game in a long time and have not scored a whole lot of points this year those guys are working hard. They will fly around defensively. We can’t take any opponent for granted. We have to show up and do what we are supposed to do, the way it is supposed to be done no matter who it is your playing or where. We want to make sure we do what we are capable of doing each and every play,” said Coach Trapp.

WJLE’s Pre-Game shows begin with “Coach to Coach” at 5:00 p.m. featuring former UT assistant coach Doug Matthews with former coach Dave McGinnis and broadcaster Larry Stone talking Tennessee and SEC football.

“Coach to Coach” is followed by “Murphy’s Matchups at 6:00 p.m., a look at Tennessee High School Football from Murphy Fair with commentary on games and coaches interviews.

“Tiger Talk” airs at 6:30 p.m. tonight (Friday) on WJLE with the Voice of the Tigers John Pryor interviewing Coach Steve Trapp and Tiger football players Nathaniel Crook , Evan Jones, and Bryan Portillo.

September 18, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

The DeKalb County School District’s graduation rate which had been on the rise in the previous two years lost ground in 2019-20 amid a turbulent school year thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to data released this week by the Tennessee Department of Education, DeKalb County’s graduation rate was at 91.9%, a drop from the 94.4% in 2018-19 and below 93.7% in 2017-18. It still exceeded the state’s graduation rate by 2.3%.

The DCHS graduation rate has been up and down over the last several years. For 2016-17 it was 95.41%. Four years ago, the rate was 97.58% and 95.8% five years ago.

Statewide, of the 2019-20 cohort, over a third of districts improved their graduation rates and 89.6 percent graduated on time with a regular diploma, a slight dip (0.1 percent) compared to last year.

Access the 2019-20 graduation rate data here: https://www.tn.gov/education/data/data-downloads.html.

Each year, there is a critical time period from around March through August when schools help students complete credits and meet graduation requirements. This year in those critical months, there were significant COVID-19 disruptions that may have impacted how students received essential supports.

“Tennessee has set high expectations for students and educators and we recognize their hard work and achievements despite a global pandemic, but any dip in graduation rate is highly concerning,” said Commissioner Penny Schwinn. “As we look for ways to improve, we will continue to partner with districts and use data to help inform strategies for setting students on a path to success.”

For the 2019-20 school year, the most notable takeaways in the state are:
69 districts improved their graduation rates from 2019 to 2020.
58 districts graduated 95 percent or more of their cohorts.
37 schools had graduation rates of 100 percent.

Six districts improved by five percentage points or more—Dyersburg City Schools, Fayetteville City Schools, Hardeman County Schools, Obion County Schools, Weakley County Schools, and West Carroll Special School District.

529 fewer students graduated in the 2020 cohort compared to last year, for a total of 64,514.
The most notable takeaways from the student groups statewide for the 2019-20 school year are:

36 districts improved the Students with Disabilities student group by five percentage points or more. Overall, the Students with Disabilities student group improved from 72.5 percent for the 2018-19 school year to 73.1 percent for 2019-20.

While 23 districts improved the Economically Disadvantaged student group by five percentage points or more, the overall student group slightly declined from 82.9 percent to 82.7 percent for 2019-20.

14 districts improved the Black/Hispanic/Native American student group by five percentage points or more. Moreover, this student group slightly declined from 83.7 percent in 2018-19 to 82.9 percent for the 2019-20 graduation cohort.

Five districts improved the English Learner student group by five percentage points or more. Overall, the English learner student group declined from 71.9 percent for 2018-19 to 68.6 percent for the 2019-20 cohort.

For more information on graduation rates for individual districts and schools, please visit the department’s Data Downloads webpage.

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