Student Enrollment Down Slightly from Last Year

Enrollment in the DeKalb County School System is down slightly from last year at this time.
According to Attendance Supervisor Joey Reeder, a total of 2,909 students were enrolled as of Monday, August 3.
“These (numbers) are pretty fluid and will be until Labor Day. We’ll have people coming in and moving out but as of this morning (Tuesday, August 4) we’re at 2,909 which is a few down from where we were last year. As of Monday, August 3 we had 849 students at the high school; 521 at DeKalb Middle School; 647 at Northside Elementary; 533 at Smithville Elementary; and 356 at DeKalb West School for a total of 2,909. I think we’ll be somewhere close to where we were last year by the time it is all said and done,” said Reeder.
Attendance is important and Reeder encourages students to be in school on time every day when classes are in session. “According to Tennessee state law, once you miss five unexcused days in a school year you are considered truant. Juvenile Court Judge Bratten Cook, II has been a big friend to education. He realizes the importance of education and he wants all our students in school. He has been a big help. Court is often a last resort. We try to intervene using various other tactics before we take them to court. First, we’d like our teachers to be in contact with parents and let them know if a child is not attending school or as much as they should. The law says it’s the parent’s responsibility to see that the child is in school. Once you (students) reach that threshold of five unexcused days, you are considered truant. Of course you will not be in court for five unexcused absences but we will be in contact with you. It’s very important that your child is in school as many days as they possibly can be,” said Reeder.
“We have a real large problem with tardies in our school system and it’s probably a bigger issue at the lower grades than the upper grades. Certainly, if you have a child in the first or second grade and they are late to school, it is not the student’s fault because it’s the parent who brings them to school. Remember if you bring your child to school it’s important that you have them there at 7:45 a.m. and don’t drag in at eight o’clock because that causes more work for everyone and they (students) miss a little bit of instruction. If you can’t get up and get your kids to school on time, put them on the school bus. The bus will get them there on time. Very seldom do we have buses late for school unless there are mechanical difficulties. It would be a big help if more people used our bus system. We have a tremendous amount of kids that are brought to school by the parents which is fine but just try to get them there on time,” said Reeder.
Meanwhile, Reeder said parents and students are urged to take advantage of the “Skyward” student information system. “This is our second year using the program. It was a tremendous asset to us last year and it will be an asset to parents and students if they choose to use it. It’s an online tool where you can get registered and check your child’s attendance. You can check a child’s grade up to date. It’s real time information. For example, if you have a child in the third grade and you want to log on and look this afternoon, you can see what their grade is in science. It’s a tremendous tool and we’ve had a lot of people take advantage of it. If you are a parent or guardian of a student in DeKalb County and would like to keep track of important information like attendance, grades, discipline, and many more areas, please contact our student information system manager, April Odom by email. We have found this is the easiest way to activate your parent/guardian account. Please contact her at aodom@k12tn.net. If you will email her and say I’d like some more information on “Skyward” she will get you set up. She has to email you back with a password and log in information. It’s a good feature. If I had a child in school I would certainly get signed up where I could keep track of them. This year our high school students were able to log on to “Skyward” a week or ten days before school started and see their class schedule. It allows you to communicate with your teachers via email. It’ll enhance your child’s education if it’s used correctly,” said Reeder.