The Tennessee Department of Transportation still has plans to improve Highway 56 south in DeKalb County and into Warren County along the existing nine mile corridor but construction is months away and will be done in three phases instead of two once it gets started. Bids are to be let for the first two phases of the project by this fall.

Meanwhile plans are still in the works for expansion of Highway 70 (State Route 26) from Highway 53 in Alexandria to Highway 96 in Liberty but while right of way acquisition was long ago acquired for the project, the state has yet to allocate funding. It is included among the projects identified by TDOT to be addressed as part of the IMPROVE ACT adopted by the state legislature last year.

A public meeting was held Friday morning in Smithville with TDOT officials hosted by State Senator Mark Pody and State Representatives Terri Lynn Weaver and Clark Boyd.

According to TDOT, The first two phases of the Highway 56 project are from the Warren County line to Magness Road and then on to East Bryant Street in Smithville along the existing route. A new project from near State Highway 287 in Warren County to the DeKalb County line is still under review.

TDOT’s plans call for a new two-lane but the highway (2- 12 feet traffic lanes with turning lanes and wider shoulders along the route) could eventually be expanded to four-lanes in the future. The property has already been acquired to build a new two to four lane highway.

According to Wes Hughen, TDOT Director of Project Development for Region 2,construction would have already taken place had it not been for delays due to environmental issues. There are still stream mitigation concerns to be resolved both with the Highway 56 and Highway 70 projects.

“We have been trying to get the project to construction for some time but we had some issues with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) document,” said Hughen.

“The first two sections we expect to have let to construction by late this fall or early winter. We have already acquired all the right of way for those two sections. We will start out building two lanes of a proposed four lane project. We will maintain traffic on the existing Highway 56 (alignment) while we build the new portion and then we will take the old part out. We’ve got connections to driveways to everybody,” said Hughen.

“Once it lets to construction and bids are found to be acceptable, it (contracts) will be awarded within four to six weeks and then sometime after that we would start work but while all the right of ways are available, we will still have to relocate utilities and things like that,” said Ken Flynn, TDOT Director of Operations for Region 2.

The entire Highway 56 project is expected to be completed within three years after construction begins.

TDOT will schedule a public information meeting in May or June to share more specifics about all three phases of the Highway 56 plans.

The DeKalb County School district has set the state assessment testing dates at each school for the remainder of March and April.

Director of Schools Patrick Cripps and other school administrators are asking parents to make sure their children are in the classrooms each day for the assessments.

“Our state testing provides feedback about students’ academic progress. The results help us to make informed decisions on how to better invest in our schools. All high school students will take the End of Course exams online this year,” said Director Cripps. For a preview of how your child will be tested at the high school level please visit this link: https://tn.nextera.questarai.com/tds/#practice

“All other students in our district, grades 2nd-8th, will take the paper version of the TNReady test. Additional information regarding TNReady and End of Course testing can be found on the Tennessee Department of Education website.”
https://www.tn.gov/education/assessment/tnready/tnready-parent-resources…

The following testing dates are specific for each school.

DeKalb County High School:
* March 20th ACT-11th Grade
* April 16th-26th-Grades 9-12
* April 30th-May 4th-Grades 9-12
* Make-up dates for TNReady: April 20th, May 4th

DeKalb Middle School- Grades 6-8
* April 17th-April 27th
* Make up dates: April 18th, April 26th

DeKalb West School-Grade 2 and Grades 3-8
* 2nd Grade Assessment -April 23rd-April 26th
* Make-up date: April 27th, April 30th
* 3rd-4th-April 17th-April 25th
* Make-up dates: April 26th, April 27th
5th-April 17th -April 26th
* Make-up dates: April 27th, April 30th
6th-8th -April 17th -April 27th
* Make-up dates: April 30th, May 1st

Northside Elementary School-Grade 2 and Grades 3-8
* April 18th
* April 23rd-May 1st
* Make-up dates: April 27th Grades 3-4; April 30th-May 1st-Grade 2-5
* 2nd Grade Assessment -April 24th-April 26th
*Make up date: April 26th, April 30th, May 1st

Smithville Elementary School Grade 2
* 2nd Grade Assessment-April 24th-April 26th
* Make-up date: April 27th

Congratulations to the following DCHS FBLA members who placed at the State Leadership Conference.

1st place:
Sarah Ann Colwell and Jasmine Parker, American Enterprise Project
Andrew Fuson and Wesley Carpenter, Banking and Financial Systems
Faith Judkins, Addison Oakley and Raiden Martin, Community Service Project
Jasmine Parker, Journalism
Chance Mabe and Justin Trapp, Marketing
Mackenzie Partridge, Chapter Scrapbook

2nd place:
Maggie Robinson, Organizational Leadership
Anna Chew and Holly Evans, Partnership with Business
Eli Cantrell, Electronic Scrapbook

3rd Place:
Ami Patel and Emily Lasser, Emerging Business Issues
Raiden Martin and Parker Gassaway, Global Business
Madi Cantrell and Macy Hedge, Hospitality Management
Tyree Cripps, Local Chapter Annual Business Report
Madi Cantrell, Macy Hedge, and Carly Vance, Partnership with Business

4th Place:
Holly Evans, Introduction to Financial Math

5th Place:
Madison Judkins, Sophie Cripps, Chloe Sykes, Business Ethics
Trey Fuston, Noah Byrge, Website Design

The DeKalb County High School Chapter received the following Awards:

2nd largest chapter in the state of Tennessee with 125 members
Level 3 Membership, Gold Level
Club 100
Gold Seal of Merit Chapter
First Place Children’s books with over 2,000 books
Third Place Can Tabs, with 52 gallons

Raiden Martin was elected the Tennessee FBLA Treasurer. Marilyn Roberts, Lead Adviser at DCHS was chosen as the Adviser of the Year. Several of these students qualified to compete at the National Leadership Conference this summer in Baltimore, Maryland. The chapter was also recognized for our contributions to Tennessee FBLA Scholarships and the March of Dimes.