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Robinson jazz band performs; Kingsport honored as TCAT gold dual‑enrollment partner
Summary
The Kingsport board meeting opened with a Robinson Middle School jazz band performance and recognized Allstate band, choir and orchestra students. TCAT Elizabethton presented Kingsport City Schools with a gold-level dual-enrollment partnership designation covering 453 dual-enrolled students.
The Kingsport City Schools Board of Education opened its April 8 meeting with a performance by the Robinson Middle School jazz band and recognized students across the district for music and dual‑enrollment achievements.
Robinson director Andrew Lynn introduced the middle-school jazz band, telling the board the group began in the second semester of the previous year as an after-school ensemble and rehearses once a week. "This group is in their second year... they're making up their own solos," Lynn said as he introduced student soloists.
Band director Richard Brown noted that, according to his review of local history, this spring marks the first time in the district's roughly 100-year band history that Robinson, Sevier and Dobyns‑Bennett (DB) all field active jazz programs simultaneously. The directors invited the public to a Kingsport Jazz Night on April 29 at 7:15 p.m. in the DB band room and to Robinson's spring band concert on May 5 at 7:00 p.m.
The board also recognized Allstate students in band, choir and orchestra by name during the meeting and thanked directors and parents for their work supporting extracurricular music programs.
Later, representatives from the Tennessee College of Applied Technology (TCAT) Elizabethton presented Kingsport City Schools with a spring 2025 gold-level dual-enrollment partnership recognition. TCAT representative Dr. Richard Church said the designation reflects the district's expansion of career and technical education pathways. "All total, Kingsport City Schools has 453 high school students dual enrolled with the Tennessee College of Applied Technology," Dr. Church said, and he listed program enrollments: four students in building construction, 12 in off-road diesel, one in pipe fitting (attending in Elizabethton), seven in collision repair and four in pre-practical nursing.
Dr. Church said TCAT will hold a recognition event on May 8 to present certificates and diplomas earned by Kingsport students prior to high school graduation; students who cannot attend will be recognized later.
Board members and district administrators praised the range of student opportunities highlighted by the music presentations and TCAT partnership. The superintendent's remarks emphasized both the quality of student performances and the growth in postsecondary certificates achieved through dual enrollment.
No formal board action was required for the recognitions and presentations. The meeting proceeded to business items after a brief recess.
