DeKalb County Schools will be closed Tuesday, March 17 through Friday, April 3 due to the coronavirus threat

March 16, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

DeKalb County Schools will be closed Tuesday, March 17 through Friday, April 3 due to the coronavirus threat.

Director of Schools Patrick Cripps told WJLE that the final decision to close schools came after Governor Bill Lee’s statement today (Monday) urging every school district in Tennessee to close as soon as practically possible.

“We have decided that we are going to close schools starting Tuesday, March 17 and that will run through April 3. We will not be in school,” said Director Cripps.

All planned school related trips, extracurricular activities, and sporting events are also canceled during this time.

“We still have 4 inclement weather days left we can use and then we’re off anyway for spring break next week, March 23-27. Schools will remain closed March 30 through April 3 and it’s not clear yet if the state will require us to make up those days,” Cripps continued.

“We will still monitor the situation. Our goal is to be back in school Monday, April 6. I do encourage parents to stay in communication with their teachers so they can keep up to date with work assignments. If we are out of school beyond April 3 we will have to get more work out to our students so they can keep up their skills. We have already sent out packets. I know some of the schools sent the packets out on Friday but students will be getting packets to keep up with their work assignments while they are out of school,” said Director Cripps.

“We are also coming up with a plan on how we can get food to our students while we are closed. It will be a meal program. We will provide more details through an all-call out to families over our messenger. Expect that in the next day or so in order that we can still provide meals for those who need it,” added Director Cripps.

Other admonitions:

*Teachers are advised to check email daily
*Teachers will be available to parents remotely
*No student should be on any school campus while schools are closed.

Today, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee issued the following statement regarding statewide school closure:

“As the response to COVID-19 evolves, I urge every school district in Tennessee to close as soon as practically possible, with all schools expected to close by Friday, March 20, 2020 at the latest. Schools should remain closed through March 31, 2020 to further mitigate the spread of this infectious disease and we will issue further guidance prior to March 31. Superintendents and local leadership have the full support of my administration to determine effective dates for closure this week as they evaluate what is best for families within their respective districts. We understand the tremendous burden school closure places on families and we will continue to work with both the federal government and school districts to ensure we continue essential supports like meals for students in need. Every Tennessean has a role to play in preventing the spread of COVID-19 and I urge Tennesseans to be quick to help neighbors as new needs surface with the closure of schools.”

March 11, 2020
By:

Twenty-one 3rd-6th grade students comprising 10 teams from Northside, DeKalb Middle and West schools participated in the Invention Convention at MTSU on February 27, under the direction of Enrichment Teacher, Nikyra Calcagno. DeKalb students were among approximately 800 students from Middle Tennessee participating in the competition, which asks students to either invent something to “Make Life Better” or develop a game.

DeKalb had two teams place: Andrew Coffman and Christopher Boner took second place in the 5th grade Games category with their Phrase Madness! game; and Cali Agee and Mckenna Miller took third place in the 6th grade “Make Life Better” category with their No Slip Grip invention. Both teams received an invitation to participate in the National Invention Convention in June. In addition, Ethan Spears, 6th grade, received the Individual Champion award for his Wizardous Math game.

Other students who participated include: Brody Cripps (3) and Elijah Wiegele (4): Hug-A-Bot 1.0, Anderson Fortner (4) and Blaine Scarbro (4): Ball Drop, Maggie Hendrixson (4), Elliot Barnes (4)and Cora Gilley (3): Marble Mayhem, Payton Marshall (5) and Olivia Minton (5): Climate Chaos, Zoe Bennett (5) and Carly Thomas (5): Measuring Glove, Jaxon Kleparek (6) and Chase Vaughn (6): The Game of Presidents, David Wheeler (6), Turner Bryan (6) and Aidan Turner (6): Soft Band.

Congratulations to each of these students! Their hard work and creativity are to be applauded.

March 16, 2020
By: Bill Conger

It’s been a long two weeks for the family of DeKalb Middle School English teacher Candice Scarbro. The 19 year teaching veteran had no idea a tornado was about to strike her home in Putnam County in the late night hours of March 2, turning their world upside down.

“We didn’t know there was bad weather. We didn’t get any warnings on our phone or anything. “

Her ailing husband, Kevin, who normally stays up to watch the news, went to bed early in a different room for a sleep study. She and her 8-year-old daughter Riley, a student at Northside Elementary School, were sleeping in Candice’s bed.

“Probably about 1:40, something woke me up. I think it was the wind and hail. As soon as I lifted my head up, our windows blew out. I grabbed my daughter, and I had my dog. We had mud and glass all over us.”

“My husband came running in there. Are you all okay? My son [Blaine, 10 a NES student] was in the other room on the other side of the house. I guess he heard all the houses around us falling, and he came in there.”

While Candice’s husband was assessing the damage, she and her children went into the closet. Rain from the storm started falling on them, so they went into the living room. They soon went outside to check on her mother-in-law and sister-in-law who also live on Charlton Square in the Eller Plantation subdivision.

“Their kitchen was destroyed, and they were sitting in the garage. There was a man in their garage.

Apparently the tornado slung him out of his house, and he somehow ended up in my mother-in-law’s garage, and he had a broken arm.”

Sitting by candlelight in their living room, The Scarbro’s also welcomed into their damaged home a family of five whose house had been wiped out.

“While we were sitting there waiting for the sun to come up and to quit raining, one of my ceilings fell in my bedroom and scared everybody. About 30 minutes later, one of my ceilings in the kitchen fell. We were afraid the next ceiling to fall was the living room because rain was coming in so bad. But it didn’t.”
The next morning, Candice opened the door to see the damage by daylight.

“Most of my neighbors’ houses that were completely demolished landed on top of all of our vehicles and up into our garage. When we first walked out the door when the sun came up, we couldn’t even see our vehicles because all the house debris was all over our driveway and all up into our garage.

“I have two neighbors on each side of me and two across the street from me that their houses are completely gone. There’s nothing left. “

Candice says what’s left of her mother-in-law’s house will have to be demolished, but she and her husband were more fortunate.

“Our house is still standing. Our roof was intact. We had some damage on the roof. How our roof didn’t come off like everyone else’s I don’t know! They [Engineers assessing tornado] came into our house, especially because they were trying to figure out exactly why our roof didn’t come off to the extent of everybody else’s. Our little house is really the luckiest one around.”

Candice says her family lost several personal belongings and will have to rebuild the interior. In the meantime, she, Kevin, and the kids will live in a rental. A college friend set up a Go Fund Me account to raise money to help the Scarbro’s rebound. Candice says she’s thankful for the donations and the people who have helped her family through this ordeal.

“It’s just been unreal—my friends, my family, my DMS family has been so supportive and helpful,” she said, her voice breaking. “We’ve just had so many people give and help. It’s unbelievable the kindness of others.”

To make a donation to the Go Fund Me campaign, follow this link: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-cookeville-tornado-victims

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