TDEC To Close Edgar Evins and All 56 Tennessee State Parks Effective April 4

April 3, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) today announced it will close all 56 Tennessee state parks including Edgar Evins and state-owned state natural areas to the public effective April 4 through April 14, in support of Gov. Bill Lee’s Executive Order 23. This is a complete closure of facilities and access to all Tennessee State Parks and Designated State Natural Areas.

“We decided to close the parks in support of Governor Lee’s Executive Order 23,” TDEC Commissioner David Salyers said. “The health and safety of Tennessee citizens is all of our top priority right now.”

Tennessee State Parks officials will continue to monitor the COVID-19 pandemic. For more information, visit www.tnstateparks.com.

April 3, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

The Tennessee Foreign Language Teaching Association (TFLTA) has named DeKalb County High School’s Brittany Dixon as the “Best of Tennessee” for her presentation at the association’s state language conference.

From a pool of more than 60 presenters, Dixon was selected to represent Tennessee at the regional Southern Conference of Language Teachers (SCOLT) held in Mobile, Alabama. According to Rebecca Peterson, Vice President of TFLTA, “Mrs. Dixon’s evaluations were remarkable, and her session was highly attended.”

In her session, Dixon demonstrated how language educators could use short novels to promote language acquisition, even during the first semester of language study. When asked what this teaching method looks like at DCHS Mrs. Dixon explained, “In a nutshell, each semester my colleague, Brent Simpson, and I read a small book with our students, written completely in Spanish, and then we pair the main text with activities that increase students’ exposure to comprehensible language. Though I’m not always sure our students realize it, the time they spend working through a leveled-reader is one of the most valuable things they do in our classes because the end result is true contextualization and acquisition – not mere memorization – of high-frequency language that they can continue to build on for years to come.”

Due to the outbreak of coronavirus, SCOLT wisely elected to cancel their annual meeting. However, Mrs. Dixon says she hopes to attend the conference in the future, presenter or not. “I’m sincere when I say that I love getting to see what skilled language educators are doing in their classrooms. It felt great to receive this honor, but more importantly, it feels great to be part of a larger body of educators that have a drive to constantly hone their craft.”

April 3, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

The DeKalb County Health Department has established a COVID-19 assessment site for county residents at:

DeKalb County Health Department
254 Tiger Drive, Smithville
Monday-Friday, 9am-3pm

Additional information about Tennessee’s assessment sites is available for each county on the Tennessee Department of Health website at www.tn.gov/health/cedep/ncov/remote-assessment-sites.html.

Most people, particularly those with mild or no symptoms, do not need assessment for COVID-19.

Those in high-risk categories, including contacts of confirmed cases; people in occupations with exposure to large numbers of contacts; health care workers; nursing home residents; severely immunocompromised patients; critically ill patients; pregnant women and people who have COVID-19 symptoms, are prioritized for testing.

There are many things DeKalb County residents can do to reduce the impact of COVID-19:

• Wash your hands often with soap and water (or alcohol-based hand rub) for at least 20 seconds, especially after coughing or sneezing;
• Do not touch your eyes, nose or mouth with unwashed hands;
• Stay home when you are sick;
• Cover your coughs and sneezes with your arm or a tissue;
• Clean and disinfect objects (e.g., cell phone, computer) and high touch surfaces regularly; and,
• Practice social/physical distancing from others, be safer at home.

All Tennesseans, especially those in high-risk populations, should take the following actions to reduce the possibility of getting sick with COVID-19:
• Keep space (at least 6’) between yourself and others;
• Limit your time in public to essential needs only, such as grocery trips, medical care, pharmacy needs or emergencies;
• When you are in public, avoid crowds as much as possible, and keep away from others who are sick, limit close contact and wash your hands often;
• Avoid non-essential travel, especially on airlines and cruise ships; and,
• Stay home as much as possible to reduce your risk of being exposed.

TDH has additional information available at www.tn.gov/health/cedep/ncov.html.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has updated information and guidance available online at www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html.

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