April 4, 2023
By: Dwayne Page
The shooting at a private Christian school in Nashville only a week ago that left six people dead including three children sent shock waves across the state and country including DeKalb County.
Dwayne Cornelius, pastor at New Life United Pentecostal Church, was on his way back home from Dallas where he had preached over the weekend when he heard the news Monday morning. Like everyone, Pastor Cornelius said he was horrified by the tragedy but the fact that it had occurred at a private Christian school so similar to the DeKalb Christian Academy in Smithville, which is under the supervision of New Life, made the realization of what happened even more chilling for him.
“I was getting on a plane coming back from Texas when all of it broke out and as soon as I landed, I got back engaged with what was happening,” said Cornelius in an interview with WJLE. “It was a very chilling and unfortunate situation. It saddens me, our staff, and everyone here at DCA and our daycare that somebody would go to that level,” he continued.
“It takes on even more significance for us because our facility is similar to Covenant in size, facilities, and things of that nature even though they have a two-story building and ours is only one story. Their school is kindergarten to 6th grade and ours is up to 12th grade, but the similarities are such that it brings all this very close to home and add to it that we are just 70 miles away from where this took place. It was very tragic, and I feel for every family member there. I can’t even begin to understand how the pastor there has had to handle this situation especially since one of the victims who died from my understanding was one of his own children,” said Pastor Cornelius.
DeKalb Christian Academy is currently in its 6th year of operation as a 501c3 under the auspices of the New Life United Pentecostal Church serving students from pre-kindergarten to 12th grade. Prior to DCA, the church started a day care in February 2013 called Kids Connection Early Learning Center. Both entities are located in the same building on South Congress Boulevard which was once home to retail stores Pamida and later Roses. Although they each operate independently and have their own administrators and or principal, DCA and KCELC are governed by the church’s board of directors and overseen by Pastor Cornelius. Today, the two entities combined now serve around 160 students with a 30 member staff.
Pastor Cornelius stated “I appreciate this church family for seeing the vision of a Daycare and School come to fruition. They have sacrificed and continue to, so that these entities can be made available to the families of DeKalb County. There has not only been sacrifices of time, talent and finances but as a church body we pray over our buildings, staff, students and their families on a regular basis.
“After we took over this building in 2011 and completed renovation, we started a day care first which we call Kids Connection Early Learning Center. It is in one section of the building. KCELC now serves 75 students from newborn to 4-year-olds. Tabitha Tramel is our director, and she runs the operation of the day care side, said Pastor Cornelius.
DeKalb Christian Academy has also grown since its beginnings. Enrollment at DCA is tuition based and available to any families in DeKalb and surrounding counties.
“We started approximately 6 years ago with 4 students and in the process, we have surpassed 80 students this year and have already registered for next year between 93 and 96 students so we will probably be at 100 students by our 7th year starting in August 2023. Scott McBroom is the Principal, and his wife Bobbi is the Administrator. Although I oversee it, they run the day-to-day operations of the school,” Pastor Cornelius continued.
DCA uses the Abeka curriculum which is among the nation’s largest distributors of home school and Christian education materials and the educators at DCA are certified to teach the curriculum according to Pastor Cornelius.
“We are a school that uses a more traditional curriculum,” said Pastor Cornelius. A teacher stands in front of the classroom and gives instructions from the board, but we have been blessed by being able to put some very good technology in that we use in the classrooms and put children on such as smart boards and laptops along with iPads and things of that nature in the upper grade levels. We do end of year testing as well as ACT and SAT’s and all of the tests’ students need to get them to the next level for college. They are just done a little bit differently than what the public school system does. We have been approved for dual enrollment when it comes to high school. The high school students we have will be able to dual enroll with Motlow and when they graduate from DCA they get their cap and gown and we give them a ceremony here,” he said.
DCA puts a priority on partnering with families to pursue Faith, Character and Academic Excellence. Being a Christian Academy, DCA offers a time for Bible lessons.
“They have Bible every day. We don’t push any specific doctrinal beliefs. We do basic Bible stories and lessons that are geared toward building stronger personal character. This year they started doing chapel which the kids have really enjoyed and eventually we will get to the point where chapel will have music involved that is also provided by the students,” he said.
DCA has adopted the name “Lions” as the school mascot hoping for an athletic program and other social activities in the future.
“We will work toward it (athletics). This year we started “drama”. They put on a Christmas musical, and a school student was involved in every aspect from media, to running cameras and sound. It was all run by the school and students. They want to begin doing more of them and are discussing doing two musicals next year. As we get bigger, we can do more things and then eventually add athletics, etc.” said Cornelius.
For the most part the DCA school calendar mirrors that of the DeKalb County public school district.
To help guard against a security threat at DCA, Pastor Cornelius said measures are in place to help protect not only the school but the daycare and church. Members of the staff have also had training in dealing with different potential incidents.
“We put into place some security measures long ago not just from the school or day care perspective but from the church as well because we (church) are currently under the same roof right now (as school) with expansions that are currently going on,” said Pastor Cornelius.
“We completed our latest training last fall. I put 25 men from the church through very extensive training. It’s not just a handgun class. What they went through is done by a retired TBI officer and he sets up an actual simulator. We set up in the room and each of them (participants) have to go through different simulation scenarios using a laser gun, screen and life size figures in front of them to make decisions on everything from an active shooter situation to a husband and wife arguing in the parking lot and how to react to those incidents from a security standpoint. We will have annual recertification for our people involved in our security teams whether it be with the church, school, or daycare. They will get re-certified on a regular basis. We have training for everything from fire drills, CPR, choke training etc so we’re prepared whether it be security, safety or a medical situation. We have invested a tremendous amount of money into security in general and then as we get closer into each of our entities, the day care and the school, we have taken extra measures there as well. We have cameras that are monitored at three different locations all over the building. It is very difficult to go anywhere in or outside the building without being seen. Having anywhere from 165-170 children here every day, we take security very seriously. The building is on lockdown daily when we are in session and there are other avenues we are looking into. We are always going to be intentional about improving security. We want every child and staff member here to be safe so we are taking every measure we possibly can. You hope it (security threat) never happens, but we want to be prepared if it does. Evil is evil and all we can do is try to deter it as much as possible,” said Pastor Cornelius.