Sabrina Farler has been named Principal at DeKalb West School. She will  fill the position left vacant by Danny Parkerson's retirement.

This school year is Farler's 16th with the DeKalb County school system, and she has held the assistant principal position at DeKalb West for the last three. She is a 1996 graduate of DeKalb County High School, and received a Bachelor's Degree in Elementary Education from Tennessee Tech in 1999, a Master's Degree in Instructional Leadership in 2003, and an Educational Specialist Degree in 2011.

Meanwhile, the new addition to DeKalb West School will be dedicated at 6 p.m. on Sept. 4, and an open house will follow. After the dedication ceremony, school tours will begin at 6:30 p.m. Additional tours will be offered on Sept.7 from 2-4 p.m.

The eight “tornado-safe” classrooms, new secure entrance to the school,  new restrooms, an office, clinic, conference room, and a teacher work area, larger kitchen and cafeteria is enlarged were funded mostly by grant funds of more than $1.5 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), with $600,000 in local funding added to meet a 12.5 percent grant match.

The county commission approved funding for the addition in July 2012 in the form of a $3.4 million note to cover the $600,000 grant match for the safe room project along with $850,000 for the cafeteria and kitchen renovation, as well as new roofs at DeKalb Middle School, DeKalb West School, and Smithville Elementary School.