School Board Grants DCHS Request to Change Dual Enrollment Class Requirements

February 10, 2024
By: Dwayne Page

DeKalb County High School is changing the requirements for students taking Dual Enrollment Classes.

During the regular monthly meeting Thursday night, the Board of Education approved the request made by the DCHS Administration.

In making the case for the change, DCHS Administrators provided background and a recommendation in the following request presented to the school board which was approved by the board

“Up until 2018, Motlow had specific requirements regarding which students qualified to take dual enrollment classes. These requirements were:

1.3.0 GPA overall unweighted
2.3.0 GPA in their focus area (class taken)
3.ACT benchmarks had to be met in each subject area taken (English 18, Math 22, Reading 22, Science 23)

After the fall of 2018, Motlow only required 10-12th graders to have a 3.0 unweighted GPA to be eligible for dual enrollment classes. 9th graders only were required to take the accuplacer test. Additional requirements fell upon the school district to make. At DCHS, we did not require anything additional while surrounding counties kept more stringent requirements”.

“This past semester (fall 2023) we had 130 students taking dual enrollment classes. Out of these 130 students, 43 students made a C/D/F in a dual enrollment class. We are finding that students are signing up for dual enrollment classes who are not ready for the rigor and responsibility required to be successful in these types of classes”.

“Motlow offers two different grants for their classes. The middle college grant requires students to keep a 3.0 GPA and the dual enrollment grant requires a 2.0 GPA. This year already, we have had around 10 students lose their grant and this cannot ever be regained”.

Request/Recommendation:
“After reviewing requirements from surrounding counties, we would like to request that our Dual Enrollment classes have the following requirements beginning Fall 2024.

1.3.0 GPA overall unweighted
2.3.0 GPA in their focus area (Class taken)
3.Students must earn a minimum composite score of 19 on the ACT or Mock ACT in relevant subject areas:

a. Dual Enrollment Math courses require an ACT sub score of 19 in Math, 19 in Reading, and 18 in English. In order to take Math 1530 or Math 1710, students must have completed Algebra I, Geometry, and Algebra II.

b. Dual Enrollment Science courses require an ACT sub score of 19 in Science, 19 in Math, 19 in Reading, and 18 in English. In order to take Chem 1110 or Chem 11120, students must have completed High School Chemistry.

c. Dual Enrollment English, History, Psychology, and Speech courses require an ACT sub score of 19 in Reading and 18 in English.

4.As an alternative to having the required ACT scores, students could also take the Accuplacer test through Motlow to be eligible for a DE course.

5.A very motivated student who cannot meet requirement 3 or 4 could be considered if they have a 4.0 average unweighted and a 16 for that ACT sub score”.

Mock ACT and ACT prep classes:

“We believe it is very important to expose students to the ACT test early on to prepare them to do their best their Junior and Senior year. All Juniors and Seniors are currently given the ACT at school (on a school day) at no charge to the student. All freshmen and sophomores are given a mock ACT test in the Spring (the same day the Juniors take the real test). Juniors are then scheduled into an ACT prep class their Junior year if they score a 19 or below on the mock ACT test. Our scheduling allows for most students to have multiple elective classes and we feel like this is an important one for our Juniors to take. Beginning in Fall 2024, the English and Reading portions of ACT prep will be administered through the Junior English course which will be a year-long course. The science and math portions will be quarter classes each (totaling one semester course). All Juniors who do not have a real or mock ACT composite of 19 or higher will be required to take this course unless their schedule does not allow for it (ex. special education students who are also in RTI reading and/or math classes)”.

February 9, 2024
By: Dwayne Page

Alexandria Police made an arrest after finding illegal drugs, paraphernalia, weapons, and fake currency during a recent investigation.

31-year-old Samuel Kameron Vanatta is under a bond of $62,500 and he will be in General Sessions Court on February 22.

In a prepared statement, Police Chief Travis Bryant said that “on January 6, 2024 officers with the Alexandria Police Department, the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department, and the Smith County Sheriff’s Department received information of drug activity occurring within the city limits of Alexandria. During that time we were able to identify Samuel Kameron Vanatta as a suspect. Vanatta was stopped on Edgewood Street at the city limits where K-9 Manci was deployed and alerted to narcotics inside his vehicle. During the stop a small amount of a crystal substance believed to be methamphetamine was located along with several needles, fake U.S Currency, and other items consistent with the use of narcotics,” said Chief Bryant.

“As officers developed more information from the traffic stop, a search of Vanatta’s residence on West Main Street was conducted where officers were able to recover an additional 20 grams of a crystal-like substance (believed to be methamphetamine), 2 rifles, and a large amount of drug paraphernalia. Vanatta was arrested and charged with manufacture, delivery, sell, or possession of methamphetamine, drug paraphernalia, and possessing a firearm during a felony,” added Chief Bryant.

February 9, 2024
By: Dwayne Page

The DCHS basketball teams closed out the district season at Crossville Thursday night losing to the Stone Memorial Panthers and Lady Panthers.

The Lady Tigers were defeated 66 to 54 and the Tigers were taken down 57 to 44. In the last meeting on January 27 in Smithville, the Tigers lost to the Panthers 68 to 57 while the Lady Tigers were beaten 63 to 56.

The Tigers are now 10-17 on the season and completed their district campaign at 1-9. The Lady Tigers own a record of 9-18 overall and finished the district season winless at 0-10.

The regular season finale will be Saturday, February 10 as DeKalb County finishes with makeup games at Warren County starting with the girls game at 3 p.m. followed by the boys contest. WJLE will broadcast LIVE.

In the Thursday night games, the Lady Tigers were down 14 to 9 after the 1st period, 30 to 24 at halftime, and 50 to 40 after the 3rd period before losing to Stone Memorial 66 to 54.

Ella VanVranken scored 26, followed by Avery Agee and Tess Barton each with 8, Chloe VanVranken 6, Cam Branin 4, and Allie Melton 2.

The Tigers trailed 12 to 10 after the 1st period, 21 to 18 at halftime, and 37 to 32 after the 3rd period before falling to the Panthers 57 to 44.

Dallas Kirby scored 11, Jordan Parker, Jon Hendrix, and Seth Fuson each with 7, and Ian Colwell, Alex Antoniak, and Conner Close each with 4.

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