Signup Underway for Coronavirus Food Assistance Program

June 25, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

Donny Green, County Executive Director for the DeKalb-Cannon County Farm Service Agency announces that the signup for the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP) began May 26 and will continue until August 28, 2020. As of June 22, Green says that his office has issued $1,037,853 to 198 livestock and crop producers in DeKalb and Cannon counties and, if you are a livestock or crop producer and haven’t signed up yet, you should make an appointment to get your application processed.

“America’s farming community is facing an unprecedented situation as our nation tackles the coronavirus. President Trump has authorized USDA to ensure our patriotic farmers, ranchers, and producers are supported and we are moving quickly to open applications to get payments out the door and into the pockets of farmers,” said USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue.

Livestock eligible for CFAP include cattle, lambs, yearlings and hogs. The total payment will be calculated using the sum of the producer’s number of livestock sold between January 15 and April 15, 2020, multiplied by the payment rates per head, and the highest inventory number of livestock between April 16 and May 14, 2020, multiplied by the payment rate per head. To clarify, both sold and unsold livestock are eligible for payment under this program.

Non-specialty crops eligible for CFAP payments include corn and soybeans. Producers will be paid based on inventory subject to price risk held as of January 15, 2020. A payment will be made based 50 percent of a producer’s 2019 total production or the 2019 inventory as of January 15, 2020, whichever is smaller, multiplied by the commodity’s applicable payment rates.

This program is a self-certification program, but approved applicants may be spot-checked and required to provide documentation to support the producer’s application and certification. To ensure the availability of funding throughout the application period, producers will receive 80 percent of their maximum total payment upon approval of the application. The remaining portion of the payment, not to exceed the payment limit, will be paid later as funds remain available. If funds are not sufficient to cover the 20 percent remaining amount needed for approved applications, a prorated payment factor will be applied to all applications. In other words, there is no funding advantage to be the first or last applicant if the application is received by the August 28, 2020 deadline.

USDA Service Centers are open for business by phone appointment only. While program delivery staff are in the office, they are working with producers by phone, email, and postal mail, and using online tools whenever possible. Persons wishing to conduct business with the FSA are required to call the DeKalb-Cannon County Farm Service Agency at 615-597-8225, Ext. 3 to schedule a phone appointment. More information can be found at farmers.gov/coronavirus.

June 25, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

DeKalb County students are expected to return to a traditional reopening of schools on Monday, August 3 but In the event remote learning from home should become necessary during the year, the district will be ready for it.

Director Patrick Cripps has announced that all DeKalb County students in grades K-12 (almost 3,000) will be provided a chromebook (computer) for the 2020-2021 academic school year for use in the classrooms and to take home after school.

“It will be necessary for these devices to be transported from school to home and back. These devices are 13 inches long, 9 inches wide and come with a case for protection. This information is provided for your consideration prior to purchasing your child’s backpack for the upcoming school year,” said Cripps.

Prior to making this announcement Wednesday, Cripps had already informed the Board of Education earlier this month.

“Every student in the school system will get a 1:1 device (computer) to take home. We will expect our teachers to not only communicate with our parents digitally but be prepared to assign lessons through the Edgenuity platform we hope to purchase with the CARES Act money,” said Cripps.

Providing all students in kindergarten to 12th grade a Chromebook is new. High school students were the first to be assigned chromebooks three years ago for use at school and home. A year later 6th to 8th graders were provided chrome books and this past year 3rd to 5th graders got 1:1 devices although they (elementary and middle school students) could not take them home.

Chromebooks are returned at the end of each school year but students are reassigned the same devices the following year. High school seniors return their devices upon graduation and those are either replaced or recycled back into the system for other students to use.

After they are issued to students, Schools Technology Coordinator Greg Frasier said chromebooks can be tracked and if a technology issue should arise with a device, it can be addressed remotely in most cases.

“Each student will have one assigned to them with a specific asset tag number which is also in our Google console so we can track it anytime. For example if a student loses a chromebook or doesn’t have Internet access at home and goes to McDonalds or somewhere to use their internet and they walk out and forget it or someone steals it, we have a program set up to track it,” said Frasier.

“Chromebooks are easily managed. I can manage all 3,000 from home or school. Any place with Internet I can manage them. If there are issues or something needs to be installed, anything short of having to take one apart, I can remotely work on them and if I do need to manually work on one I have several spare parts on hand. We also have a vendor that sells replacement parts. Chromebooks are cheaper to repair or even replace than full laptops,” said Frasier.

Unlike this past school year, the school district will use the same digital platform for all grade levels.

“Survey respondents (parents) said they wanted one platform they can use to communicate with teachers. This past year DCHS used Google Classroom while the elementary schools used Seesaw or Dojo. Parents with students in more than one school found themselves trying to keep up with too many platforms. This year we will do a solid platform and everybody will use the same one across the district to make it easier for parents,” said Cripps.

“When we get back in school our number one priority is for teachers to get to know their students and find out what kind of technology they have at home as far as Internet and practice the Edgenuity platform with the students so they know how to access it and operate it,” said Cripps.

Over the summer parents will be asked to participate in a class to better educate them on using the digital Edgenuity platform and to practice its operation with their children.

“We are going to offer a class for parents this summer and they will have to watch this (slideshow presentation) before computers are issued to their children to take home. The class will teach them how to access Ingenuity and how to communicate with their child’s teacher and to take advantage of other services we plan to offer,” said Cripps.

June 24, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

WJLE will close out this season’s Vol Network Classics Series Saturday, June 27 with another tribute game to the late former Tennessee Football Coach Johnny Majors

Set against the backdrop of the 1982 World’s Fair next door, underdog Tennessee defeated No. 2 ranked Alabama 35-28 in a thrilling contest at Neyland Stadium on October 16, 1982.

The win broke an 11-game losing streak to the Crimson Tide and set off a wild celebration that resulted in both goal posts being torn down and paraded around the UT campus area.

In his sixth season at UT, it was Coach Johnny Majors’ first victory over Alabama and legendary Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant.

After trailing for much of the game, the Vols jumped out to a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter and withstood a furious Alabama comeback with Mike Terry intercepting a Crimson Tide pass in the endzone with 17 seconds left in the game.

Other Program Highlights Include: John Ward’s memorable pregame opening to the game along with George Bitzas singing of the National Anthem, a patriotic halftime show featuring the Pride of the Southland Band and the UT Singers, extended coverage of the postgame celebration and interviews with co-captain Bill Bates and Coach Majors.

Don’t miss this final edition of the “Vol Network Classics Series” Saturday, June 27 at 1 p.m. on WJLE and the Vol Network

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