Students to Get Day off on February 5th for Primary

For student safety reasons, DeKalb County Schools will be closed Tuesday, February 5th for the DeKalb County Democratic Primary and the Tennessee Presidential Preference Primary.
The Board of Education Thursday night voted to close schools that day since the election commission normally uses DeKalb Middle School and Smithville Elementary School as polling places.
Students, who were scheduled to be out of school on May 9th, will now attend that day. Teachers, who were scheduled to attend school for a professional development/instruction day on May 9th, will now attend February 5th
Officials say when school is open on election day, it compromises the safety of the children. The activity in the polling place could allow a non-custodial parent access to a child or allow child predators to roam the halls, and could even be the way for a violent act to be committed against the children and staff.