Family Read Nights A Popular Program at Elementary Schools (VIEW VIDEO HERE)

February 14, 2019
By: Dwayne Page

Family Read Nights are underway at Smithville Elementary, DeKalb West, and Northside Elementary as part of the Accelerated Reader Program.

Read Nights give parents an opportunity to spend quality time reading with their children on designated days and times after school. Other family members may also participate in reading with the students.

IMG_4328 from dwayne page on Vimeo.

Ana Jarvis, an English as a second language (ESL) teacher at Smithville Elementary School who assists Librarian Jane Ramsey with Family Read Night said parents can bring their children to SES every Wednesday and Thursday through mid April and stay as long as they wish from 3-6 p.m. on those days.

“The children can practice their reading. Parents can read to them. The students take a quiz and we have prizes for them if they score 100%. Every month we give them a prize. We have some levels for points during the program. We give them prizes and the grand prize at the end of the program is a field trip to Greenbrook Park. We also have awards for those who read the most and scored the most points. They can become Principal or Librarian for a day,” said Jarvis.

Accelerated Reader is a computerized program that tests reading comprehension. Students select books on their reading level, read independently, and take an independent comprehension test on the computer. Each book is worth a certain number of points based on its length and reading level. Students get a percentage of these points based on how many of the test questions they get right. The program tracks their progress over the course of the school year.

Check with your child’s school for a Family Read Night schedule.

February 14, 2019
By: Dwayne Page

A DeKalb County High School senior learned this week that she has been named a Finalist for the National Merit Scholarship Program.

Madison Elizabeth  (Madi) Cantrell, daughter of Todd and Jenny Cantrell, who qualified as one of 16,000 Semifinalists nationwide for this honor last fall is now among 7,500 finalists. The National Merit® Scholarship Program awards individual students who show exceptional academic ability and potential for success in rigorous college studies.

National Merit Scholarships worth more than $31 million will be offered this spring. About half of the Finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar® title.

A variety of information is available for NMSC selectors to evaluate: the Finalist’s academic record, information about the school’s curricula and grading system, two sets of test scores, the high school official’s written recommendation, information about the student’s activities and leadership, and the Finalist’s own essay.

Beginning in March and continuing to mid-June, NMSC will notify the Finalists at their home addresses if they are selected to receive a Merit Scholarship^® award.

Madi is the 2018-19 Miss DCHS and she participates in various school clubs, including FBLA, Student Government, and Senior Beta Club, where she currently serves as president. She is also the treasurer of the 2019 senior class. She served as the Junior Usher for the Class of 2018, alongside Mr. DCHS, and earned the AP Scholar with Distinction award. She was voted Outstanding Underclassman during her Freshman and Sophomore years and attended Girls State in the summer of 2018. Madi has joined the prestigious 29+ club which recognizes students with an ACT score of 29 or higher. Upon graduation, Madi plans to study chemical engineering.

NMSC, a not-for-profit organization that operates without government assistance, was established in 1955 specifically to conduct the annual National Merit Scholarship Program. Scholarships are underwritten by NMSC with its own funds and by approximately 410 business organizations and higher education institutions that share NMSC’s goals of honoring the nation’s scholastic champions and encouraging the pursuit of academic excellence.

Over 1.6 million juniors in about 22,000 high schools entered the 2019 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2017 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®), which served as an initial screen of program entrants. The nationwide pool of Semifinalists, representing less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors, included the highest scoring entrants in each state. To become a Finalist, the Semifinalist and his or her high school had to submit a detailed scholarship application, in which they provided information about the Semifinalist’s academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment, and honors and awards received. A Semifinalist must also have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, write an essay, and earn SAT® scores that confirm the student’s earlier performance on the qualifying test.

February 14, 2019
By: Dwayne Page

Safety sphere bollards have been put in place at the entrances of Smithville Elementary, Northside Elementary, and DeKalb Middle School as a security measure.

The purpose of the bollards is to serve as a barrier to prevent anyone from using an automobile to crash into the front of the buildings. Bollards are currently not planned for the entrances at the high school and DeKalb West School because it is already difficult for an automobile to make a direct hit on those buildings. However bollards may yet be placed near the entrance of the West School gym

The bollards and other security devices recently added to the school buildings were funded as part of $83,570 in grant money awarded to the DeKalb County School District from the state.

The grant funds were also used to install a key fob entry system at the high school, to purchase more surveillance cameras at all schools to monitor activity inside and outside the buildings and to provide school staff with more walkie talkies for better communication.

All high school students and faculty have been assigned an electronic key fob to gain entry to the buildings while school is in session. Except for class changes, all doors to each building are kept locked during the school day. The students’ key fobs are active only from 7:45 a.m. until 3 p.m. week days and from 6 a.m. until 7 p.m. for the faculty. Administrators may use their key fobs at all times.

Visitors to DCHS, like the other four schools in the county, don’t have access to a key fob. Upon arrival they punch a button to alert the office of their presence. The door is unlocked and they are allowed to enter. Once inside, visitors must sign in. Unlike the other schools, DCHS poses more security challenges because there are so many other ways to gain entry by way of the vocational and agriculture/band room buildings in addition to the main entrance.

When students arrive for school each morning, the school doors are open. The students gather in the cafeteria and wait for the bell signaling them to go to their first class.  Once they are in the classrooms, the entrance doors to all buildings are locked.

Because the key fobs are programmed by computer, each students access can be limited to only the buildings they need to enter during the day and their use of the key fobs can be tracked through the system.

These security and safety needs of the school system were identified by a team assigned to make those assessments as a requirement for obtaining the grant.

Participating in those assessments locally were Director Patrick Cripps, Federal Programs Supervisor Dr. Danielle Collins, Attendance Supervisor Joey Reeder, Smithville Police Chief Mark Collins, Sheriff Patrick Ray, Smithville Fire Chief and Emergency Management Agency Director Charlie Parker, Alexandria Police Chief Chris Russell, and Earl Jared and Aaron Young of the District’s Maintenance Department.

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